Priestess of Tea
by Porcelain.Memories
Summary: "The Priestess of Tea… I will corrupt her innocent little wings and break her until she will beg ME and me only." The resolution entombed into the velvet of his voice intertwined with the thirst for revenge. Because apart from claiming the Hidden Leaf for himself, Sasuke vowed to turn their enthralling Goddess from the symbol of virtue, into a slave of pleasure. HIS slave.
1. Fields of Hope

**:: CHAPTER I - FIELDS OF HOPE::**

In the shinobi era of the Fire Nation, Konoha was praised for being the Promised Land among the other Nations, protected by the grace of Gods' and nature Spirits and blessed with lush life and fortune.

In the depths of the Mount Myoboku resided the quintessence of their prosperity; the mother of fertilization and the symbol of life and virtue that protected the Village Hidden in the Leaf.

The nature`s regeneration came from the mantle of coral tresses that fluttered in the wind whenever she padded through the paths of the Cherry Blossoms from her garden. She was praised as the _Priestess of Tea_ –their iconic figure.

Nomads and visitors nourished the tempting folklore legends as they felt the fragrance of oolong tea seeping through the cherry blossom trees whenever they traipsed through Konoha`s land.

Her fame in the local land was as mesmerizing as the conceptualization of her eidolon form. Some voyeurs claimed to have seen her and be granted a wish, while the others were worshipping her and sent their prayers to her name first, and she will always listen to their pleas and respond.

Their spiritual mentor was the source of smiles and the harmony and peace soothing people's hearts as she entombed the grace of their pulchritudinous Priestess.

She had her own festival during the Spring season when the entire nature metamorphosed into an abundance of flowers and life.

There weren't many who had the privilege to see her face, for she was a mystical creature with the beauty of a sylph creature and the aura of a Queen.

She could be limned as a Goddess in human form, enshrining the eternal beauty of innocence and effervescent radiance and for that reason alone, people were gracing her with their prayers and adulation.

Because she was the archetype of beauty and all that was solar and purity, in a world grazed by war, blood, unscrupulous machinations, and despotic ambitions. The Priestess will always protect this land where the leaf of the Tea was evergreen and highly aromatic. She will protect them from the hand of the _enemy_.

A noble silhouette was kneeling humbly before a statue of a solar deity. Her hands were intertwined in a praying mode. Tiffany digits were henna tattooed with beautiful intricate fractals colors. Her emerald orbs were garnet lucent and her glossy lips full of virgin roses as they were chanting prayers to Heavens for fertility and prosperity.

She bore the essence of people's Creed and beliefs and turned them into short missives to the Gods for them to have mercy on the villagers and grace them with strength, wisdom, and peace. Her virtue was untouched like diamond and pure as the first fluttering crystalline snowflakes.

A long silk and velvet embroidered kimono bedecked her evanescent curves, outlining the maiden façade of her beautiful veneering in a peregrine combination of lights and shimmering golden sewing. The airy ample folds of the kimono rode up to her elbows, unfolding princess delicate hands, stealing the exquisite beauty of the while lilies.

"Kami-sama, onegai shimasu," Sakura`s voice rippled along the melodious warm breeze that grazed over her margarite skin. "The land is withering and grieving for it hasn't felt the taste of rain in three weeks." She outstretched her hands to the sky, begging. "Bring abundance and have mercy upon the village and his inhabitants. Bring rain back into this village that writhes in agony."

The mesmerizing Priestess lighted the incense, watching it ooze of a soft sage fragrance whirling in smooth spirals of smoke across the temple, in a golden and silver encrusted holder, sculpted in bamboo in the form of a white dragon.

Large intricate floral and dragons motifs were sewed in lace and gold into the folds of the pure white kimono that dotted her form. The siren long tail rippled across the bamboo stairs of the Shrine as she padded with tiffany steps, descending.

Her wooden traditional _geta_ sandals' click reverberated through the porch as the young priestess walked to the back garden, losing her form along the arcades of pink cherry blossom tree`s flowers and leaves, fluttering into the limbs of the floral breeze along the sinuous alley.

Her loose long tresses followed the enthralling languish cadence of the cherry flowers in the same shade, creating a fluttering effect of a bride's veil behind the curve of her slender back, brushing past her waist.

Content with the suave breeze that brought a comforting tranquility up the Land of Fire, the rose haired Priestess stroll to a small steaming _onsen_ that cupped the droplets of thermal water from the pits of a silent volcano into an oasis of meditation and relaxation to rinse her form into the inviting water.

Her digits slide into the ribbon of her elegant kimono, loosening the intricate knot and tucked in the ample folds that dropped her naiad curves, and let it slide along her petite form. Instantly, her bare lithe skin began to glow akin to an eidolon in the crimson tangerine sunset.

She stepped into the lukewarm water of the pond like she was made of smoke, shadows, air and water, creating no ripples across the glossy surface like she wasn't even touching it with the tip of her toes.

"Dark times are coming... This land will soon face the vision of despair..." Her fingers span under the bubbling water, seeing the outline molding into a sweet blurry form.

She depicted something into those magical waters and an unnoticed frown stretched across her forehead. A pair of obsidian orbs roared into an amalgamation of fire and thunderstorms right back to her and she murmured in her nightingale inflection. "Beauty of a _demon_..."

Light rose tendrils fell in curls along the outline of her rounded shoulders and molded behind her arched spine as they spilled into the crystalline drops of water. A floral fragrance wind enveloped her evanescence silhouette and carried her on its perfumed limbs, as her tiffany form swayed with light steps along the way.

A small that defied the supreme virtue of virgin snow embellished her porcelain visage and she gazed to the velvet horizon, as it blamed tangerine-crimson, creating a splendid panoramic vista of the four mountains that encompassed the borders of the Leaf Village.

Legends sprinkled the missive that they were nesting the four elements in their quintessence, as four legendary Dragons once sacrificed their lives to help the starving inhabitants of the land and their mission has transcended the veil of time and graced their priestess to protect the core of elements and the people in need.

A suave petal of a cherry flower in bloom floated into her palm, in the same shade as her avant-garde locks. She studied its purity and the silk veneer akin to a precious pearl; her purity was emblazoned into the flower and nature recognized her as part of the cycle of regeneration and innocence.

The Priestess indulged into the charming jittering sound of the dream chasers and the bells from the embroidered uchiwas, fluttering in the wind in front of the shrine.

This was akin to the reminisce of Promised Land and she was the Guardian priestess of the fertility of their fields of rice and tea and their consort through hardship, harvest and nebulous times.

Rice fields encompassed the vast horizons of Konoha, serving as people's immensurable source of food and wealth. The grain of maleficent has long time ago transgressed the gates of the village. Legends claimed that the Priestess or the Maiden could be seen on summer nights like a phantom running through the cherry trees when they blossom then she will come from Myoboku Mountain were her shrine was located, and people call her _Sakura_ of the cherry trees, her elegant name portraying her peregrine appearance as her essence was entrapped into the fitting name.

It was also claimed that she had magical powers, ones that she could cure the illnesses and purge a troubled soul.

People would go bare feet up to the shrine stairs and pray for her to help them. They came back cured and their hearts were cleansed from evil –this is how much the people of Konoha adored her and worshiped her symbolization.

The land was rich in rice fields and green tea plantations. Leaves were abundant as they bloomed in the forms of the finest tea selections and everyone from the other Nations will come to buy from them for the unique aromas. The village was prosperous because of that and the people were content and hardworking.

Sakura arched her neck to gaze at the angry puff clouds that could be seen into the distance and she furrowed her fine eyebrows, muttering to herself. "Dark clouds… the sky will be grieving soon." She felt a cool droplet of rain tap on the swell of her rosy cheek, announcing the much anticipated rain.

Not just rain…

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* * *

"It looks like there is going for to be a storm!" An obstreperous man with the most golden spikes sticking to his temples in a boyish calloused way spoke loud to his companion that was galloping in front of him, as drops of heavy rain fell in stinging rivulets upon his shoulders that were bedecked with a dark cloak.

"It doesn't matter." A baritone voice that challenged the strings of the silkiest bass guitar spoke in a colder inflection than an icicle, betraying no emotion. "Soon we`ll be reaching the gates of the Land of Fire and once we get to the border," The male tilted his head for only his orbs to pierce through the maze that the showering drops were creating, for his visage was shadowed by the cloak that cupped his nimble silhouette.

Unlike his enthusiastic companion with big azurite orbs, he was the embodiment of a shadow, molding within the limbs of darkness.

His equally raven Arabian horse puffed flames through his nostrils as they speeded up ahead through the lush forest, defeating gravity and the opposing nature with the nonchalance of a demon.

His nimble silhouette was molding within the shadows, carried by the limbs of darkness spanning along the lush of vegetation as he flew through the night on his impetuous Arab horse.

The thirst for blood and power blitzing into his stormy eyes exuded from his demonic aura; dark chocolate inflections of his smooth voice augmented the Uchihas' penchant for dominance. He was terrible and fastidious, just like he was splendid in grace and moves and beautiful in looks.

The trees stood motionless before their transgressions of this foreign land, at their hunger for their land kept on in rising.

The silvery violet velvet sky was weeping pouring heavy drips on their forms that and did nothing to stop them. After conquering Oto, Sasuke was going for the biggest fish in the tank: Konoha - the Hidden Leaf.

Same leaves which were now dancing and swirling into the wind as they could see the meandering ranges of the sharp mountains peaks, swaying along the line of the horizon, protecting and creating a natural barrier.

 _Soon..._

The hoof of his terrific horse was hitting the rinsed muddy soil, leaving a trace of flames lingering behind, akin to a beast that came undone and the sole image of the man and the wild animal was implacable and made fear arise in the spine of his companions.

"There is nothing to stop us from conquering the Hidden Leaf." Obsidian orbs gleaming silvery-sapphire under the electric bolts of the occasional lightning blitzing and grazing the velvet stormy clouds, were darker than the bottomless abyss of a nebula, enfolding from under his tuft of slick wet raven locks sliding along his temples and forehead.

"What about their Hokage?" The golden haired man pressed, as they urged their horses to speed along the meandering narrow forest paths, paying attention not to lose their way.

Their small army of missing nins galloped faster than the speed of sound, washing the alleys and sinking into the forest that encircled the land, protectively, sheltering it from any transgressor.

But they weren't ordinary people; they were spirits of the Darkness tainting the soothing silence of that Holly Land and their leader was the child of the Devil himself. "Sarutobi Hiruzen was that dude`s name? The benefactor of Konoha and the strongest shinobi in the entire Land of Fire?"

Naruto stated as a matter of fact. He wasn't praising the man, nor was he afraid of him; he simply noted as his raven haired friend had his profile set straight ahead and the jaw sharp and firm aligned with the one of his indomitable horse, as the accomplishments of the Hokage didn't reach him in the bit.

Because Uchiha Sasuke had no concept of the word 'fright', in fact, he had no attachment to any feelings. His heart was engraved in stone where it became one with the lifeless cobblestone and forgotten in the sand crystals of time; one useless distant memory.

His chest bore an endless hollow hole that no one could fill, not even the thirst for power and dominance. There was no figment or grain of affection left into this man, no sparkle of anything beautiful, no grace, no colors and no sweet taste, none.

Not even in the form of a whispered missive, he was dead on the inside, putrid and cynic and so were his actions so far, spanning like implacable diseases wherever he went and nothing remained behind his back, only a pile of ashes and the pungent stench of despair.

He retorted back to his closest comrade and friend in the same low rich and cold manner; he was colder than the heavy drops of rain that seemed to flinch back from sensing the deviant fire that resided into his quintessence; it was like nature itself couldn't touch him.

"Once I have that decrepit old dinosaur into the range of my _Kusanagi_... I will kill him before he knows what hit him and then snatch his land."

The other men who were part of his counselors and most trusted companions heard and even tasted the acid scent of his resolution and they knew that Sasuke wasn't bluffing. If he set his shrewd scheming mind on something, then he will turn it from illusion into reality – into a nightmare.

"What about their local legend? Some sort of… Goddess is rumored to protect their land from hunger and illness or something troublesome along the lines. Their spiritual guardian, as they call it."

Shikamaru`s tone was serious but soaked in his peculiar languish aura as he seemed to drift between staying alerted and take a quick nap. "I heard a nomad back in the Sound call her the _Priestess of_ _Tea_ if memory serves me right." And by that, everyone knew that Nara`s mind was infallible and his word was precise as an arrow.

Upon getting a glimpse of something so intriguing haunting the minds of those mindless scared peasants, their leader`s thin lips stretched into a mischievous smirk as something naughty, corrupt and deviant started to stream through his mind.

"The Priestess of Tea… I will corrupt her _innocent_ little wings and break her until she will only beg to _me_ instead of her… _God."_ With this new resolution blooming into him, Sasuke whipped his head back to roar to his men as another thunderbolt hit a nearby tree, illuminate his pristine face. "Hurry."

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* * *

The night was lukewarm and the air filled the bell laughter reverberating through the lush night streets; a celebration of the tea was being held at the Village and every single breathing figure was populating the crowded streets.

Children dotted rosy cheeks and angelic smiles were watching through starry eyes at the impressive Parade of Dragons and tucked on their mothers' exquisite Yukatas, enthusiastic to taste the local specialties, _dango_ sweets, and cotton candies.

Farmers were intertwined in rounds of sake and congratulated each other for being so proficient and hardworking. The celebration of spring caught everyone into a frenzy of rich colors of bright red and emerald green - akin to their rich fields of rice and tea- embellishing the costumes of the performers and street flamboyant dancers.

Hundreds of luminous Lanterns in the shapes of dragons were being maneuvered towards the shimmering starry night sky and set free to embellish the horizon, successfully creating an evanescent effect of millions fireflies soaring to the Heaven.

Romantic couple were enthralled into their times of amour, all getting jolly launching the Lanterns and paper origami boats to the lucent river, writing their wish on a small card and sailed the charms along the Golden stream which followed a meandering path up into the mountains, where the Priestess and Kami-sama will listen to their prayers and bless their love.

Everyone was happy and their hearts were inspirited. The sound of freedom and the atmosphere of the festival bedecked the cheeks of every single person in the Leaf Village, both shinobi, and civilians, from the eldest to the younger, all being enthralled by the frenzy of the stupendous moment.

And all oblivious to what was being orchestrated from behind the borders of their perfect life.

All except for a select group that was always cautious and on guard.

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* * *

An old man was gazing through the panoramic window of the Hokage Tower at the inhabitants of his Village having fun, following the impressive spectacle of the hundreds of glowing lanterns being uplifted into the velvet sky in a shimmering dance. A content smile graced his tender features that were grazed by the passing years, tucking on the rim of his pyramid hat.

A brief knock on his door has made Sarutobi turn his attention from the Festival to the tall shinobi that traipsed into his office, bowing respectfully. "Lord Hokage," The young handsome shinobi dropped on his left knee, as his dark chocolate locks spilled across his forehead and temples concealing his pearl lucent orbs. "I am sorry to interrupt, but I am afraid that I am not bringing you good news. The platoon of ANBU that we have dispatched to the Northern border sent an emergency message half an hour ago. It looks like a very strong enemy has just conquered Otogakure no Sato and they have been spotted on the other side of the _Valley of End_."

The wise Hokage half turned from the taciturn Hyuga before him and stared down to the Village that roared to life, oblivious to the danger lurking from the night`s veil, letting his furrowed eyebrows slant in a deep frown, remaining silent. Neji took it as a sign to continue. "My guesses are that they are targeting Konohagakure no Sato."

"it looks like this indeed," Hiruzen spoke as soft as the wind, keeping his calm overcome, his experience in battle taking over and his wisdom shadowed Neji`s visible struggle to suppress his nerves. "What are we dealing with? Who is this powerful enemy who nurtures such an avid thirst for dominance?"

Because frankly, there were numerous enemies who tried in vain to ravage Konoha, but they failed every single time.

"They are most likely rogue shinobi, Lord Hokage. Judging from their methods of fighting and the damage that they did to the other villages, they are well versed in the arts of shinobi way." Which sketched the delineation of a violent collision upcoming.

"Strong shinobi, heh," Hiruzen peeped towards the rooftops of the houses and buildings and his stare softened thinking about all the children smiling and laughing without a care and the possibility of someone being maleficent enough not to care about that life that they were staining.

"There is always a war going on in the world, just like the first Hokage Hashirama-dono wisely said. Ambition... Is a double-edged sword." Why would someone desire to perturb the flow of peace and prosperity was someone with a rotten heart; a broken soul.

"Lord Hokage-sama," Neji patiently waited for the Leader to spill words of wisdom before resuming his message. "What is it that you order?"

"Neji, you are the leader of Konoha's troops of shinobi. What is that you suggest?" Milky lunar orbs that shone brighter than pearls, surrounded by tiffany veins bulking along his temples shot up in surprise. The Hokage was asking for his advice and trusted his young intuition, despite the fact that Neji had combat experience? What an honor!

He bowed deeply in respect and convoluted his disarray thoughts into a short and to the point scheme. "That we strengthen the striking force at the borders and prepare for an eventual direct confrontation. We must protect this Village at all cost. Our future depends on it. Rumors circulate that the Village Hidden in the Sound has been destroyed and it now lies underneath a pile of ashes and ruins. They took everything and destroyed everything, leaving nothing behind, but pain and death."

"So Konoha's was their real target from the very beginning..." Sarutobi smartly guessed their intention. He turned his small profile fully to an expecting Neji." Is it Orochimaru again?" Though that was less probably since Neji has stated that someone has destroyed the village that was orchestrated by Orochimaru himself from the shadows, but he bears a grudge on the Leaf.

His husky voice held a semblance of remorse in it because he failed to stop his dear student before he betrayed the Village and left. "Is he heading here to take revenge on the Leaf for the death of his parents?"

"I doubt it, Lord Hokage-Sama. They weren't wearing the symbols of Sound on their forehead protectors, in fact, their only visible trademark sign is the dark cloaks."

"Dark cloaks?" Hiruzen didn't like how it sounded. There were many nasty rumors swirling around some strong shinobi wearing dark cloaks to mask their identities and they ravaged everything along the way.

"They seem to poses some sort of special ability. Very rare and... unique. Most probably a Kekke Genkai of some sorts." A bloodline limit? Recently, more dissipated members of prodigious clans have turned their backs on their respective villages, for various reasons and used their special abilities in the service of doing bad stuff and this situation was rapidly escalating to alarming levels around the Fire Country.

The simplest figment of very skillful wielders of special abilities passed through the genes within a certain clan having a get-together, united by a common corrupt purpose, was disastrous and horrendous.

Hiruzen didn't want to phantom something like that fall upon his old shoulders, but he will always stand up and fight with all his might for the benefit of his people.

And a quick look into Neji`s moonlight orbs assured the Hokage that his subordinate was ready to do the same, unconditionally.

"What type of special ability?"

"We don't know for certain, but it seems that they didn't let anyone behind to give more details and our spies didn't get much closer to them to notice, albeit,'" A droplet of cold sweat shivered down his temple as words left his lips and Hiruzen tilted his head to him, observing his reaction closely. "it appears that they are skilled enough to have killed Orochimaru himself. "

"Nani?! The old man lost his tranquil demeanor for a moment and his orbs held the same puzzlement as his slightly raised voice. He clicked on his tongue, stooping his head low to face his chest, successfully hiding his orbs under his large hat. There was an amalgamation of emotions that swept through his chest at the unexpected news. "Someone strong enough to kill my former student... Who was it?"

There was regret knotted into his voice and he couldn't shake it off. Neji didn't comment, out of pure respect.

"We don't know for sure, Lord Hokage-sama. They never saw his face clearly, but they said that he had very good control of lightning and fire elements. And he seems to be proficient with swords. Other than this, he simply used an unidentified technique to take his opponent down. Orochimaru just dropped to the ground dead when he delivered his last unsuccessful attack, but apart from the injuries left from the chakra infused Kusanagi attack, there were no other visible physical scars."

Which automatically implied that the mysterious figure did something to Orochimaru`s _mind_.

"This is bad... "Hiruzen mumbled more to himself than to the splendid shinobi that was crouched before him, nodding once. "Very well. We will do as you suggested. If the time will come for them to strike and try to penetrate our Village, then we will summon all of our force and fight with all our might–"

"Old Gramps– I mean… Lord Hokage," Konohamaru slammed the door against the wall even before the Hokage had the chance to finish his command, with a horrified expression on his young face, as rivulets of hot sweat were dripping from his messy hair along the curve of his jaw and neck as he stammered fighting to gasp for air.

"Big trouble!" Konohamaru, Sarutobi`s only grandson has been dispatched to the North Border that was the hardest and the trickiest one to safeguard, for it was the only one that wasn't naturally protected by the ranges of sinuous mountains and left in the clearing to be the subject of any potential attack.

"What is it Konohamaru?" Sarutobi fetched an eyebrow up at the panicked look on his grandson`s figure, while Neji frowned upon sensing the tumult in his atmosphere. Something was definitely not good and he knew it; he felt it and honestly… he panicked.

But not for himself, but rather for something more _precious_ that popped to his mind.

"We are under attack!"

The Hyuga didn't waste a heartbeat to upshot from the ground, all the humbleness and etiquette being forgotten in the span of that turbulent news as both him and the Hokage snarled low on their chests. "Nani?!"

"They are already here, no!" Neji almost shrieked, gaining the attention of the other two males. "but how?! This is impossible! No way! They weren't supposed to get here until tomorrow morning–"

Hiruzen cut Neji short sternly. "We can't afford to lose any more time. Gather all the most skilled shinobi and meet me at the top of the Hokage Mountain!"

Sarutobi ordered, as both Neji and Konohamaru straightened their shoulders and nodded twice. "This is a state of emergency of the highest level!" Having one of his hands tucked on his Hokage robe, Sarutobi yanked it out of his form and unveiled his shinobi attire. "Have Yamanaka Inoichi convey this message to the barrier team. Do not allow anyone to break through it and have the civilians hidden inside the-"

A violent explosion roared at the front gates of the village and shook everything from its foundation, like the wave of an earthquake rippling under the ground.

Immediately, the vibrant jolly music stopped abruptly and cheers and laughter turned into wails and horrified screams, all the festival atmosphere being forgotten. "Lord Hokage, they are-!"

"Go!" Hiruzen fully turned to look wide-eyed at the huge smoke that whirled like a tornado and raised into the air, interrupting Neji. "I will meet you there!"

"Osu!" Both Konohamaru and Neji bowed to the Kage and disappeared in a puff of smoke, resuming their position.

Sarutobi clicked on his thumb that was grazed by small bit scars from all the years of practice and waved the signs at the speed of light, patting his fingertips onto the floor as the familiar intricate symbols swirled from under his palm as he shouted. " _Kuchiyose no_ _Jutsu_!"

The Monkey King Enma, his Summoning animal has popped up in a puff of smoke, quickly transforming into the Adamantine Staff that Sarutobi maneuvered in his skillful hands, roaring as he leaped from his office to the top of the Hokage Tower`s roof.

"Whoever the transgressor is, I must protect the village from him at all costs, even at the expense of my own life! He vowed to the glowing dusk as it suddenly bleeds dark claret and violet saturation. A thick veil of smoke aroused in the air, surging from various places of the village.

Opalescent jade orbs peeped down the Village feeling the sudden shift in the jolly atmosphere and her forehead corrugated in a slight frown. "They are here." Then she threw a glance towards the Four Horizons, as her virgin pink tendrils whirled behind her back, fluttering in the wind that was intertwined with the heavy rain droplets of rain. "Please protect the village, Kami-sama! Don't let them bring the darkness upon us once again. "

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* * *

"Who are you?" Hiruzen demanded from the group of strangers before him, as he landed gracefully like a puma in front of the amassed expecting Leaf shinobi balancing on his dominant foot, while Neji Hyuga was already dropped into his peculiar fighting stance. "What is your purpose?" Silence met him from the three tall silhouettes as the rain was soaking them all wet. Their dark cloaks ruffled by the gush of wind traipsing through their clothes, concealing their faces.

But the menacing aura that exuded from their outline that molded into the darkness around was menacing. Hiruzen could feel the fright of his shinobi oozing through their pores but he, on the other hand, graced them with vast battle experience and courage.

The man from the middle who seemed to be the tallest out of them retorted arrogantly after a while. " _My_ purpose," A sinister voice, finer than rich cognac and silkier than velvet echoed through their spines like akin to an icicle. Everyone tensed suddenly upon hearing the robotic inflection of this man. "Is to restore the glory that you once stole from my deceased _clan_."

"What are you talking about, who are you-" Hiruzen`s words halted when the man cupped the rims of his cloak and tucked it down his temple.

Raven spikes flew unhinged at his nape defying gravity, while long tendrils of the most raven locks spilled along his eyes and temples and Hiruzen found himself losing his breath for a moment when he found himself staring straight into sizzling ruby eyes staring right back at him.

"I am here to avenge the _Uchiha_."

An Uchiha... Everyone gulped and gasp audibly upon hearing his smug determination, staring into his Sharing like enthralled into a nightmare. In a nanosecond, he materialized before Hiruzen and he took a step back in the last moment avoiding a possible attack.

But instead of lunging forward, Sasuke drew his sword slowly, allowing the metallic click of the expensive blade slide from under the purple rope belt that keeps his lilac shirt on the place, as the sharp material reflected the claret red sunset sprinkling bleeding rays along his form.

Hair and cloak fluttering into the wind as he balanced on his feet and had it secured in his left hand raised against the Hokage throat a clear sign of war declaration. He was there to kill and his blood thirst was overwhelming and insatiable. "An Uchiha… but how? I thought they were all... they are-"

"Extinct?" Sasuke finished for him hissing the words, albeit showing no other emotion on his handsome face, only darkness. "Your arrogance should vex me, old hag, but it doesn't. In fact," Just as a sinister smirk rose on his lips, Sasuke infused his katana with an electric discharge. "It amuses me deeply."

As soon as Sasuke spat those words in their faces, his other two companions revealed their faces. A blob of golden spikes shining like the very sun rays and set of the most aquamarine blue eyes were encrusted on a tanned whiskered face. The other one was the famous rogue genius tactician that every nation would kill to have amidst them, Nara Shikamaru, the son of the deceased Shikaku Nara.

While the other shinobi`s hands trembled on the kunai and shurikens that they were gripping for dear life, sweat dropping under their ninja attires, Neji than felt his blood boil and his temples thump.

What a shame for those traitorous to show off their smug faces like nothing happened and threaten their Hokage. "Uzumaki Naruto," Sarutobi`s orbs shuffled from Sasuke`s still smirking arrogant figure to the two boys beside him, frowning. "Nara Shikamaru!" he was confused as in how in the world have those boys strayed from their path so much.

Then he returned back to look straight into Sasuke`s obsidian eyes. The Uchiha cocked his head in a haughty manner that gave him a smug askew glance. "I know that you probably didn't know about my existence... _Hokage_." Uchiha taunted, but his mocking tone never reached the venomous glare in his eyes.

While Naruto grinned in his peculiar obstreperous way, Shikamaru merely yawned languidly like he would rather be somewhere else, like all this bored him till depths. "So I will personally introduce myself to you so that you will know what name to take with you in the Afterlife since I am not positive that the two of us will go to the same place." His velvet voice faked concern and pity, for Sasuke was bound to only go to Hell and pay for all his sins.

For the moment, he was enjoying himself deeply, nourishing from their exuding fear emerging through their widened orbs and the tremors of their spines. He loved the scent of their apprehension when they realized who they were dealing with. A force to be reckoned with.

The buzz of thousand birds chirruping snapped the Uchiha`s audience back to reality as the rivulets of rain creating a tiffany barrier around their forms, the wind picking up his pace, while the length of his blade filled with electrical sparkles iridescent and menacing pointed to the Hokage before him.

His eyes took the pattern of fractal star shape swirling like a mini tornado in his blizzard eyes when he pointed it to Hiruzen`s throat. "It's Uchiha... _Sasuke_."

Said man's orbs widened in shock learning about the raven haired male`s true identity. "Itachi younger brother, no!" As far as he was concerned, Itachi didn't let any survivor behind when he erased the Uchiha from the people`s minds in a bloody massacre, no one should have survived and now that Itachi himself was dead and pretty much forgotten as the worst traitor, they should have been just a distant memory.

Clearly not since their heir was pretty much alive and stronger than ever, haunting this land to take revenge. His eyes screamed into his face that he was here to make them all pay for their sins.

The last thing before his sword collided with Sarutobi`s Adamantine Stick was Neji`s courageous bravado as he hollered to the shinobi that stood petrified behind him waiting for a signal. "Don't waver for a second, minna-sama, they are being outnumbered!"

The Hyuga stretched his limbs to the fearsome fighting stance of the Hyuga as his milky orbs popped like lucent pearls boring into their very souls and aiming to their chakra net, clenching his jaw as he took in the exorbitant chakra that those people had. Especially Uzumaki and Uchiha.

' _I give you my word that I will not flinch back from the enemy and I will come back victorious! Believe me, Hanabi-san!'_

Sasuke, Naruto, and Shikamaru couldn't help but smirk.

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* * *

Half of a day.

This is the span of the time that Sasuke`s horde of rogue shinobi needed to bring the flickering light of the village into the abyss of Hell and pulverize it. In less than twelve hours, they changed the veneering of the place and turned laughter into agonizing tears, replacing hope with despair and dancing and celebration, with a funeral atmosphere.

Embers of fire danced in hallucinating limbs from the ashes of the houses; spirals of grey smoke enhanced the putrid stench of death, burned flesh, fresh look driving from lethal wounds, sweat and tears from the running inhabitants has and the hollers in desperation of widows and mothers holding their children dearly into their chests.

Crocodile tears were streaming from the puppy big orbs of the orphan children, weeping for their mothers and not comprehending the violent change in the scenery. Their feet were stained by mud, their hands and rosy cheeks stained by the smoke and their tears washed off the impure from their innocent eyes.

Agonizing shrieks intertwined with the clashing of metal from the ones that still fought echoed like an orchestra of decadence and misery along the deserted streets. And Konoha's streets became unrecognizable. The life and prosperity became a phantom of its once glory; a blind skeleton traipsing headless through the decaying lifeless corpses of shinobi.

In less than a week, Kami-Sama has breathed life towards the Village of the Leaf. In half the aforementioned time, a handful of rogue shinobi has destroyed it without remorse. The sky has been reduced to a silvery amalgamation of heavy burned charcoal and showered light drops of rain, weeping, and grieving.

 _Where was Kami-Sama now?_

 _Where was the Priestess of Tea?_

She was crying. Her emerald orbs were praying and crying along with every each of them. Half of their tears streamed from her scintillating eyes. She wailed and... waited.

In the dawn, Konoha has been defeated up to the last standing the shinobi. And the ones who were allowed to live stood in a semi-circle of shame, humiliated, injured beyond recognition, half death, and half alive, present in the only spirit, tied up with Chakra restraining ropes by their hands and legs and dropped on a bowing stance on their knees.

Among them, two have been tossed into the soaked mud as a handful of the strategists and Jonins who were fighting to keep on breathing behind them, but those two characters were the most prominent. The civilians that scurried out of their hideouts were watching horrified the grotesque spectacle that was undergoing. Once was a celebration of happiness of turned in a carnage.

The heavy rain washed the streets of blood and the pungent stench of burned flesh mixed with misery and wails of pain shown the swell of decadence.

Neji Hyuga, the Army commander and the Hokage himself, Sarutobi Hiruzen have been the last shinobi to fall into the hands of the enemy after a heroical fight. The symbols of strength and hope now stood before the missing in and refusing to bow their heads and beg for mercy.

Their clothes were tattered into racks and barely cupping their muscular frames. Their blood was mixed with the purple bruised skin of their ribs and limbs, skin peeling because of the heavy lacerations of swords while swirling rivulets of fresh blood entwined with dirt oozed from the wounds, requiring medical attention.

Their forms were rinsed in sweat and their harsh pants echoed from the grave heavy silence. But their iridescent orbs remained undefeated betraying the spirit of warriors.

And right before them stood the source of their doom, arms crossed in all his demonic glory, having his onyx eyes dipped to assess them and a conceited atmosphere about him as he merely had some unimportant scratches on his alabaster skin, but apart from that, he barely sweated.

Sasuke Uchiha was now reputed to be the shinobi who managed to defeat the legendary Hokage and he barely looked affected by their incredible fight, smirking in victory in a curl of lips entombing the sinister howls of deprived demons.

 _How can this be?_ Was all that swooshed through Sarutobi`s mind, while Neji`s thoughts drifted to his pregnant _fiancé_ , Hyuga Hanabi, who he has sent away off the Leaf Village in a carriage, accompanied by her sister and his cousin Hyuga Hinata and two servants. They didn't manage to capture them, did they? And what if they did? What will they do?

Were they still alive? The mere thought of these monsters before him laying their filthy hands on the most important women in his life… they made Neji`s stomach churn in disgust. He could even feel the acid swirling back into his throat and amass with the metallic taste of copper when horrid images invaded his mind.

All their splendid shinobi have been crushed up to the last standing warrior. All of their higher ups remained soaked in their own blood in total disgrace. What about the Council of Elders, Sarutobi wondered for a start? Have they been defeated as well?

"There is one more thing left for me to take now, apart from this Village." Sasuke broke the abominable silence that hung in the air like a guillotine, as he once again tipped his blade under Sarutobi`s chin that hung low and forced him to look into his star-shaped ruby Sharingan. The lustrous silver edge lacerated the skin right above the Kage`s jugular." Where is the Priestess of Tea?"

He demanded rather than inquired and he couldn't help but basked into the insane pleasure that shot through him in the swell of empowering and dominance when he took in the way their orbs widened in horror at the mention of that name alone.

So it wasn't just a myth, huh? He held in his smirk for the moment and betrayed nothing about how he felt on the exterior.

"She is… the symbol of life and prosperity. She is people's guide and the source of their faith-" Sasuke fought the urge to roll his orbs in his sockets as hearing Sarutobi`s useless emotional ramble, taking in in sheer disgust how the old man coughed blood spraying from his mouth. "For what purpose do you wish to play with the strings of fate and challenge what is above your powers?"

It was Kiba the one to lose his patience completely and with a brazen scoff of his eyebrows he snorted and shrieked. "Just kill this old decrepit fart already Sasuke, he only talks shit!"

While his insult was praised with acclamation from his rogue peers, Sasuke didn't even remove his pinning glare from Sarutobi as he snarled venomously. "Quiet."

Kiba frowned and cursed the Uchiha under his breath, while the others immediately shut up their mouths, feeling the way his chakra spiked up and the evil aura glowed around his lithe form.

"I asked you where she is and not for a fatherly advice. But… if you absolutely must know about my motive," Here is when Sasuke`s taciturn visage turned into a sinister smirk. "Fine, I will tell you. I will take her as a prisoner and make her my _concubine_." His men snickered and whistled perversely along when hearing his declaration.

"N-No, you wouldn't dare-" Sarutobi started horrified, but he immediately halt in his plea when Sasuke shoved the tip of his blade deep into the cord of his neck, not killing him but making blood spray and nearly staining his clothes. He merely flinched.

"Don't you dare to order me around. If I want to capture her and _fuck_ her ruthlessly in front of the entire damned Village, I will do it without feeling any sort of compassion and you will not be able to stop me. None of you will."

"You monster! You will pay for this with your life and beyond!" Neji couldn't help himself but holler at the Uchiha who in turn, didn't even flickered his orbs to him.

Suigetsu, who was standing somewhere close watching the spectacle with the smirk of the century plastered across his face kicked him in the ribs and that sent the pale-eyed Hyuga face flat into the mud for talking like this to their Leader.

"I will keep my pretty mouth shut if I were you, buddy. That is… if you don't want us to cut down your limbs and skin you like a fish." Suigetsu talked lightly with a side smirk casually like he was discussing the weather.

Meanwhile, instead of being a witness to this rather pathetic spectacle that Sasuke and their companions were putting up, Naruto`s attention diverted to something that flickered at the corner of his eyes and he turned his head over his shoulder, almost gasping.

His azurite orbs widened like saucers and a violent pang on his chest almost knocked the wind out of his lungs. An _angel..._ a naiad silhouette was being held captive by one of their Sound Nins who joined their party after taking Orochimaru down, a little too harsh as she struggled to get away from the pig that was rubbing himself off her tiffany curves, breathing her in as she was splendid and beautiful like a bell-flower.

Then as if on cue, she stopped the feeble attempt to haul her hands off the painful grip of the man and flickered her unique orbs to him, locking gazes. The lavender lucent pearls shimmering of tears clashed with his blue azurite ones and Naruto felt his clock stop counting the time into his chest, his own orbs unable to peel away from her.

There were so much misery and pain written in every droplet of crystalline tears that spilled from her exquisite eyes, that it made him ache with the desire to run to her, cup her in his arms and run a hand through the silk of her raven-violet long tendrils that fell askew against her porcelain cheeks.

Who is this angelic woman?

She was silently pleading him with those indescribable lunar orbs of hers for him to do something and help her, but he couldn't do anything now for it will make them lose credibility and power in front of the ones they have just defeated, but the mere thought of what his comrades will do to her later on –as they did to all the females they captured- made him taste his last meal on his tongue.

His digits clasped into a furious ball as his fists trembled on his side in pure rage. He peeled his orbs from her and gave a quick perusal around to make sure that no one has seen him interact with the enemy woman and came to a sudden realization when his cerulean orbs fell on Neji`s figure; they were related.

 _Well shit!_

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* * *

What would it look like the face of a monster, Sakura asked herself as she runs from her Shrine to the thick virgin forest that led to the Leaf Village, not able to hold back her worry for whatever atrocious things were transpiring there.

Probably hideous as his putrid soul, carved by scars and stitches akin to the _ugliness_ of his malevolence, eyes penetrating and bottomless as the abysses of Hell, she reasoned in her mind. A stalwart grotesque form wrapped in opulent clothes to enhance to power and appetite for luxuries.

Nails deformed like claws, split long nails curled like a beast as it sunk in the fresh flesh, claws instead of teeth to bite from the souls and swallow them, demonic eyes, and display long hair sticking to his abhorrent ugliness.

Maybe a horn protruding from his wrinkled forehead or a tail to whip his enemies along the way, she cringed visibly and the bubbles deformed to her most succubus nightmare.

An encounter with such a monster would only result in a petrifying sensation along Sakura`s spine. And Kami only knew what that man was capable of when he will see her and find out that she was such a strong liaison to those people's hope?

Will he... Oh Heavens, he will _touch_ her with his blood stained hands. Her skin trembled like the leaves that fell on the steps of his horse perishing into nothingness. Sakura knew she had to face her fate with dignity and be strong for the Village, even though every fragment of her sanity urged her to run away from there as fast as possible.

She was pure and young, untainted and untouched like the first snow blanket and equally fragile and inexperienced. And oh, so evanescent in grace and forms and beautiful in soul and features -the most tempting prize and such an easy prey for demons.

The Virgin Maiden in the claws of the devil... The wind from North suddenly stirred and fluttered across the bells from the already faraway shine. Emerald orbs followed the velvet contours of the cloudy horizon.

"He's here." She knew that he was because there was a thick blanket of smoke oozing from the Village as a clear sign of someone attacking it, but every sound collided into a cobblestone silence. As long as her light still shone even faintly, as long as she won't give up hope, then this village will never perish nor will it lose light. As long as she survived, then the village will renew its strength to fight back and win.

She had to remain strong no matter what might happen to her. She couldn't run away now because they were bound to find her right away. And Sakura knew it.

Whoever this descended of the Uchiha clan was, Sakura knew that his heart was putrid and rotten and his spirit decayed and it has slowly been swallowed by the abyss of darkness.

There was no hope remained into his hollow chest, no heartbeat to tick for his beloved ones, no ray of love, no hope and no sentiment, only an immense nebula that nourished his third for revenge and lasts for power. What she couldn't see clearly was his face. She didn't know who he was, but she was positive that she will instantly recognize his signature.

She picked up her pace and flew at top speed through the maze of wet branches and slippery leaves.

Uchiha entombed the purity of a demon warrior into the carcass of an angel of darkness. His unholly beauty was only topped by his petrified corrupt soul; he drank from it and embraced it as its only source of life force his life purpose and sole comrade. It was the quintessence of his frightening power and wisdom, one that spanned along the Nations with his terrible reputation.

She could feel it through every breeze of the wind - the lupine thirst for blood, the concept of vengeance and the pendant for power and control and it was scorching like the eternal charcoal of Hell. He was close and so were the thunderstorm clouds that roll in cascades over the velvet sky.

His terrible reputation sprinkled access the Five Nations that fell prey to his unforgiving katana; he was no ordinary warrior; he was a shinobi; a well-versed man skilled in the arts of silent killing, and versatile with weapons and molding Chakra but what was even more terrific, was his Kekke Genkai.

The abominable Inheritance of Uchiha clan's most reputed bloodline limit - the Sharing. Those unforgiving eyes that bore into the quintessence of one's soul and depicted even secret and nothing pierced through them.

She knew he was coming to their village, it was written in the stars. Every leaf and cherry flower was trembling in dread and the crystalline rivers secured with tears and grieve.

But the light... the luminous flicker of the candle of hope must remain untrained by the stains of darkness. She was the ignition of the Village's light and soothing even if they out her in a golden cage, Sakura was conscious of her role.

It had been her destiny to be the prisoner of the Devil but she must remain unrestrained and ineffable, just like the gleam of the snow sprinkled atop the infinite peaks that guarded the Land of Fire.

The quintessence of faith and their last prayers were ultimately sent to the Priestess of Tea. Sakura was the temple in their hearts and the caress of their tears when they grieved. She hummed a bell song of harps and mandolin chirruping like a nightingale. The intricate tattoo crayoned along her spine and encompassing the curve of her hip bone shone in a stunning filigree pattern on the four dragons and a cherry blossom branch, sewed on her opaline skin.

The color of virgin pink embroidered on bright emerald, blood red, golden and silver like a pearl contoured a mesmerizing portrait of a Priestess. She conjured the winds to be her ally, she played the harmonious melody of nature itself.

Any break on a branch and am a flutter of the leaves were alerting her of any transgression. And she sent those subtle missives to the Village, but this time she has been too late or rather… the enemy has been too fast. The wind blew sharper and colder than before and she knew that it was a warnin that turbulent times were coming.

But one thing was certain: she will _fight_ the enemy and not give up so easily.


	2. A Nebula

**:: CHAPTER II – A NEBULA ::**

* * *

"Any last wishes before you join the other traitorous old hags in Hell, old man?" It was a gravestone silence when Sasuke hissed those missives to the prestigious shinobi who stood at the mercy of his katana, annoying him to no end by the way his orbs were full of all the sentiments that the Uchiha despised the most – sympathy, a tinge of understanding of his motives and the impulse to take revenge and a fortitude in his spirit that a defeated Hokage shouldn't have, but Sarutobi was just as serene as the Uchiha seemingly was.

Because on the inside, Sasuke`s innards sizzled like a bubbling volcano ready to explode. His words dripped with acid and venom. No one from the horrified bystanders and voyeurs or his entertained terrible shinobi comrades dared to flinch or open up their mouths.

The entire scene was tenebrous and villainous and so was the dusky atmosphere around, despite the first tangerine and claret rays of the sun trying to penetrate the silvery-lilac angry sky.

True to the Priestess` prayers, the sky was mourning the loss of their Hokage, because judging from the implacable stare of Sasuke`s obsidian orbs and the sinister glow of his aura spewing in embers of purple flames, the man was at the death`s doors.

Sarutobi on the other hand, had but one regret considering his current predicament, namely he was _sorry_ for his inability to turn this young man`s face from the darkness –that drapped him from the light.

He had a vast life experience and, as both a Leader of the young generation and a splendid shinobi, nothing that transpired now was making the Kage flinch, and in fact, the Hokage found it in him to muster a soft genuine smile right in Sasuke`s face, that creased with a surge of fury in return to his cherubic atmosphere.

"I feel pity for you, young man. So lost in your darkness at such a young age and forced to ripen when you are still so fragile, what a pity for such an obvious genius."

In his mind, the Kage saw the dormant potential in Sasuke and he couldn't help but mourn at how his fate –the Uchihas` fate- has come undone in all the glory of their retribution, weighing on the shoulders of the last remaining heir.

From this point of view, Uchiha suffered more than all of them combined because he was imbued with an endless course of hatred for the rest of his life, enjoying every part of this false sense of power and control.

"This ain't the freaking question, man." Kiba hollered to the Hokage finding all of that stupid conversation useless since it was just for the dramatic effect; Sasuke wouldn't have hesitated to kill someone like in the way he appeared to do now, but he knew that Sasuke was only doing it to _manipulate_ the minds of the other Leaf shinobi and crush their unity and their spirit. He was one sneaky scheming demon. "Is this senile dude deaf too?"

The man with two tattoos sprawled across his chest addressed Suigetsu who swung his sword in the air casually staying right beside the enormous blade, smirking like there was no tomorrow and enjoying the outcome of that bloody battle.

In fact, Sasuke was the only one among his peers who wasn't amused by the course of events. His stare never once wavered from Sarutobi, burning his skull with a glare so fierce that it even took the Kage by the surprise at how much _darkness_ was exuding from those coldeyes. No pity or even a small remnant of emotion swiveled into those mature eyes, only an endless nebula that swallowed the very light within.

"I don't need _anyone_ to feel _anything_ for me."

" _Ne_ Sasuke," Suigetsu took one step ahead as he raised his gargantuan sword in the air like it weighed nothing, chewing on his lower lip with his sharp canine and singing like this was all a tea party. "Why won't you let me chop off this man into piece–"

Before the sharky man with aquamarine derisive eyes had the chance to compete with Kiba and Naruto for the title of a buffon within their organization, Sasuke tucked on the handle as he swayed his blade in the air, infusing it with a bit of his lightning chakra and aligned it with Sarutobi`s throat.

He cut down the head that refused to dip down until the very last moment in a cruel flicker of his katana, maneuvering it in one fluid motion, as the peeping civilians and present prisoners froze in shock when it rolled from his shoulders and landed at Sasuke`s feet.

He in return, let his fine raven eyebrows draw in a semi-frown like finding it displeasing and not fulfilling the way Sarutobi died, casually kicking the lifless skull with his leg, tossing it right on Kiba' hands and taking him by surprise.

"Hey!" The male quickly dropped the head that was spritzing blood dropped it as it rolled down on his feet in the soaked mud. "What the fuck man?!"

He spat to the taciturn Uchiha who showed no emotion as he decapitated the Hokage, basking in the oozing horror that radiated from the villagers` frames, who peeped from their homes and the dark corners from where they stood hidden in fright and the shinobi prisoners who fought to draw back their tears, when their Leader fell just like this.

"Bury this piece of _trash_ in the cemetery and make sure that he gets a proper funeral." Sasuke instructed listlessly as no remorse or sympathy marked his visage; only tergiversation from everything creased his demonic beautiful physiognomy. "He was _their_ Hokage after all."

There was a derisive hint latched to his husky inflection, but no one actually cared about his cynic attitude, for Sasuke`s men were already used to his mannerism and the rest of the shinobi present were too busy to grieve in order to notice.

"The rest of his corpse… you can discard it outside the gates of the village. The _ravens_ will do the rest of the job." Onyx orbs full of malevolence shifted to the Hokage Tower that was now deserted. "As for the others..."

The corners of his mouth fetched up in a content side smirk as the Uchiha`s wheels were gyrating into his shrewd skull imagining all the bloodiest scenarios about how would he like to handle the rest of the Council. He will personally burn those farts alive for making his brother take his own family down by their order.

"I say... If they were just having a party here, then let's keep on partying now, shall we? It's not like we want to be _rude_ and interrupt the ceremony." Suigetsu, who was always in a playful mood grinned at the sight of the many bars that sprinkled along the filigree decorated streets, emphasizing the jolly atmosphere of a Matsuri and turned to look at the Uchiha expectedly.

Sasuke gave him his standoffish favorite reply, not even sparing anyone a single glance and pivoted on his feet, sliding his Kusanagi blade back into the scabbard that was clasped on the purple rope. "Hn. You can enjoy this _petty_ pleasures for as much as you want, but it will be _without_ me. I have a _fairy_ to catch and tame."

Oh, how his fingertips burned in anticipation to coil around that woman`s form and break her wings and he was more than zealous to crush her now that he saw how deep her symbolism was ebbed into the citizens of Konoha`s minds. The Priestess` defeat and enslavement were the final tickets to successfully control the Hidden Leaf and paint its canvas in his colors.

Sasuke couldn't possibly be wasting his time partying like an idiot, drinking like a sailor until he wouldn't be able to tell sky from the earth and hump the enemy women like a pig for as much as he or they would last, like Suigetsu and Kiba and pretty much all the others did. This was revolting and disgusting for someone with his laconic stern temper and principles.

Yes, he still valued manners and etiquette even though he was a rouge S ranked criminal; once an Uchiha, always an Uchiha and _royal_ blood run fervently to his veins.

"So do you even knew where to find her? Maybe she is just an invention or worse, a clever trap." Shikamaru yawned lackadaisically, stretching his limbs above his pineapple up do and massaging the rounded muscle, feeling the joint pop.

He got a hard punch from a chubby guy about his age, who had the advantage of sheer force, unlike the astute strategist who relied on long ranged attacks using his Kage Mane no Jutsu. "Can't you just settle with the Village for now?"

Sasuke whirled the sword once and let it slide back in his rope, frowning and heading to his horse that was blowing fire from his nostrils scaring the living daylights out of anyone who dared to look his way.

"No. I _want_ that woman. I want to see the scared look in their eyes just like my–" Sasuke halt in his speech that was too long for his taciturn personality and clicked on his tongue visibly exasperated. " forget it. I am not obliged to explain myself. Just don't get too cozy. You never know when they might strike back and plot to _revenge_ while you are busy having... _fun_."

Even though they might not show it, everyone inwardly applauded Sasuke for his implacable self-control. He never wavered from his path and his mind never drifted to any distraction, being always on guard, even when he was sleeping –which he rarely did.

Plus, his men tended to be a little _too_ buoyant when they partied and this annoyed the heck out of him. Sasuke never participated in any victory celebrations; those were for total losers or morons.

"What about the prisoners?" Suigetsu threw a mischievous peek at the remaining shinobi who were tied with chakra restricting wires, winking suggestively at them, resting his body weight on his giant sword, burning with the desire to cut some more Leaf fuckers in half. "Do we kill them all or chop them off to shreds?" He grinned in a way that made Kiba roll his orbs and bristle.

"Isn't it the same thing, you fucker?" The man who was committed to ninja arts that involved a Beast transformation spat viciously on a random shinobi who looked more dead than alive giving a concupiscent glance to a beautiful blonde kunoichi who kneed among the other prisoners, with the most beautiful baby blue eyes, glaring fiercely in his direction.

She was very appealing with all those curves sliding along her ripped body. Unbeknownst to Kiba, another comrade of his was gazing the same way but he was more subtle and refrained from openly drooling at her, enjoying the look in her cutthroat baby blue orbs in a clear sign of revolt at his behavior.

The Nara genius saw this blonde haired kunoichi fighting bravely alongside her chubby teammate that she named _Choji_ and her technique was familiar – a _Yamanaka_. They were once his family`s best companions and friends until he deflected and they became enemies.

Sasuke threw a hard glare around scrutinizing the remaining shinobi pondering whether it was wiser to keep them alive or kill them all, raking a hand through his lush raven hair that was framing his masculine angles and jawline in a stylish disarray way, in the same shade as his horse`s.

"Throw them all in the dungeons and keep feeding them so as they don't die of starvation, but don't give them more than necessarily for I don't want to risk them catching their strength and attempt to escape. Use Chakra restrained of all of them."

"What about their _hoes_?" Kiba flashed canines to the set of women that we being held in Chakra chains kneeling not far from their group as they looked up in horror realizing what his indecent intentions were.

At this Sasuke turned the half to him speaking casually as though he was bored and this didn't concern him and it didn't. "Do as you, please. But don't cause havoc. I hate it when you guys are too damn noisy."

Which meant that they were free to do everything sexual you deviant, which was highly applauded and welcomed with cheers from the rogue shinobi as they were all ruthless men with accumulated urges and rabid hormones stored into their bodies, by the fight violent battle.

Kiba and the others whistled low on their chests in approval. Sasuke seeing that no one had any other inquiries –thanks God– he swirled on his heel swiftly and traipsing to his horse that was eating grass when Naruto tapped his shoulder and squeezed.

The Uchiha petted the ferocious animal calming him while flickering his onyx eyes to the blonde. "Teme," Naruto started weary in a low tempered voice so that the others won't hear what they were conversing about. "Do you need company?"

"Why would I need someone to babysit me?" Sasuke smirked at the frown that crippled his friend`s whiskered mien althoigh he felt slightly insulted by the implication of his strenght alone not being enough. "Do you don't think that a pathetic _Maiden_ can pose as threat to _me?"_

Sasuke won't fool him and contrary to popular beliefs, not all of the Sasuke's friends were bloodthirsty savage mercenaries and rogue ninjas without a backbone. Naruto was a kindhearted and compassionate spirit, especially with his friends and Sasuke was his best friend and brother since forever. They were both kids when they left Konoha together.

Sasuke won't trick him with his peculiar egocentric bravado; he was chakra depleted and even though he was an artist in masking his pain and emotions in front of the others, Sasuke was severely injured and had difficulties in breathing normally, but his Uchiha blood was restless and it cultivated his insanity and penchant and for revenge.

What if they were worshipping this mystery woman because she embodied the epitome of power? What if she was strong enough to even make the Hokage –the first man in the entire ninja ranking system– to talk about her with so much respect?

"You never know what type of strong shinobi resides here, bastard. All I am asking for is for you to be careful. You are injured and–"

All of his disquiet didn't pass unnoticed by the kern obsidian orbs of the Uchiha who felt deeply insulted, but kept it from reaching his sarcastic natural as he growled. "Keep you fucking concern for yourself dobe and move over. You are holding me back."

"What will you do if you indeed find her?" In fact, what Naruto wanted to know was why was Sasuke suddenly so obsessed with the local legends? Was it only to break the peoples' spirits and fuck them mentally by crushing their hopes just like they crushed his, his purpose?

Sasuke smirked in a way that was more sinister than the wails of pain tearing the sky in half. "I will do exactly what I promised to that man."

Sasuke tilted his head to the decapitated Hokage who was being dragged along the street by one of his men as they sprinkled across the Village fulfilling his order. "I respect the dead ones and their last wishes." Of course, he couldn't be any more cynical. Naruto drew his eyebrows together half glaring at his friend.

Before the cerulean eyed Uzumaki had any more things to add, the Uchiha hoisted his limber form on the horse as his silhouette merged with the reflections of the glowing dawn. It was still early but the first figments of sunrise painted the violet night sky in beryl reflections.

Naruto fine-combed a hand through his tendrils of messy golden spikes that were snowy by all the ashes and dust fluttering in the air from the terrible fight that he had with the Hyuga kid and he would rather have a long hot bath than fool around with a gang of amateurish cheap tugs along his comrades.

 _What a formidable adversary._ The Uzumaki respected someone with such an avid principle though he disagreed with his narrowed ideology about destiny and he almost felt pity to see such a genius shinobi in such a humiliating stance but oh well... he didn't want to dwell about this now, for his body hurt him because of injuries, he barely had any Chakra left and besides, there was a certain nymph that he absolutely must find at all costs.

Because even if she was an enemy and related to the Hyuga, the pang in his chest pushed him one step closer to where her form once was, cursing the fact that they hoisted the prisoners up or pushed their stumbling forms along the streets to the prisons and he couldn't see her anywhere.

The rogue shinobi were quick in amassing inside each and every bar that came their way, barge inside the hospitable places, threatening the owners and force their wives to fill their glasses with alcohol and the plates with food.

What type of decadent victory is this? It bore the semblance of a decadent Gothic circus. All that missed wee clowns. Naruto slant his hands into his pockets and stroll past the hordes of shinobi who were quickly to occupying the core of the village where they resumed the party but this time, it didn't have the same genuinely warm jolly resonance as in the moment they attacked.

His soft azurite light orbs found the scared glossy eyes of the children peeping from where they were hiding, afraid to come out or the ones who were crying over the lifeless corpses of their parents and it almost made _him_ cry. He was reminded of his mother. A mother that he only met in his dreams but never felt the warmth of because she sacrificed herself for this Village.

It was pathetic to see such a scene and this is why guilt washed over his and made him pick up his pace. He had to find her. He had to find the lavender eyed woman with the most mesmerizing orbs and the most pearl skin that he has ever seen.

She wasn't among the other prisoners when he turned back for the short exchange of words with a Sasuke and he grew worried. He will be lucky to find her in a cell because as one of Sasuke's closest friends and adviser no one will question him if he approached her, but his gut told him that it won't be this simple.

If anyone dared to touch her in any indecent way… Oh, my Ramen-sama who was he trying to fool? His long strides tapped against the concrete as his jaw tensed. Of course that any man would find her peregrine and tempting and force himself to her without mercy.

The mere thought made Naruto sick.

And this is why he jogged through the deserted streets and made his way around the slightly unfamiliar village as it has changed dramatically since he went rogue a long time ago, but somehow managing to get to the prison cells that were hidden under the Hokage Mountain and his pals were already filling the place with prisoners.

The scene was rather pitiful and unpleasant for his eyes as Naruto wasn't the one to torture people, for he was rather flamboyant and sympathetic to innocent people as well as very versatile in befriending his enemies and turn them from the wrong path where they wandered aimlessly, but he couldn't do this with Sasuke who remained moored to his revenge.

He kept on paddling along the labyrinth of poorly illuminated cells ignoring the stares that he got from his group of rogue shinobi who were busy locking the chakra restrainer bracelets around their prisoners` ankles and wrists and shoved them into the crummy and unhygienic cells.

He had to find her; he couldn't explain the feeling that imbued through his system, traipsing him from head to toes upon seeing the look in that woman`s orbs, but he simply couldn't cuddle with the pang in his chest when he took in her tears.

Such tears… it was like the entire nature wailed when those milky orbs spilled tears and this was something that Naruto couldn't accept; just like his friend Sasuke, the blonde vessel for the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox was definitely _not_ a heartbreaker.

While he was a little bit more polite with the woman who approached him occasionally – especially since his boyish unserious physiognomy has mature and he got a rougher masculine touch- he would turn them down saying that he only focused on training or even lied that he had a girlfriend, but still no woman managed to glissade into his heart.

Until now.

 _Until her._

And then, just when he got to the last row of cells at the back of the labyrinth-like prison almost losing hope, he saw _her;_ this lunar looking siren with the most mesmerizing features was in one of them separated from the rest, with a chakra restraining lock around her left ankle signalizing that she was indeed a strong opponent –a Hyuga nonetheless- and sprawled across a tattered piece of cloth with her back turned on him and curled into a ball.

Her state was so pitiful that it absolutely tore his heart in half. She had her knees dragged to her chest and her chin rating on her bare knees. Her face was concealed by the disheveled tendrils of silk hair that were cascading along her naked forearms.

Her elegant clothes were tattered and stained with blood and dirt revealing scarred princess' hands. Her opaline skin glowed in this smeared cell that was her confinement. She looked like an imprisoned princess. Of course, she was of an old noble family; blue blood coursed through her veins and she was now reduced to that pathetic state.

 _God dammit._

He knew she was crying ardently judging from the harsh trembling of her shoulders and the shaken rises and falls of her chest. Her tears spilled along her bare long legs. He clenched his maxillary so hard that he felt his temples pop and his hands coiled around the cold bars of the prison almost breaking the metal in half and Naruto would have probably done it if he had enough chakra in his system.

He wasn't too late was he? Did they... _No!_ _No,_ they couldn't have, no way!

He called her softly, so soft as a breeze of a perfumed wind traipsing through the leaves, praying that she will hear him beyond the wails and cries that rung from the poorly illuminated corridor, screams of the other prisoners. "Hey!"

She didn't react, only seemingly to cry harder. He gulped once to make his husky voice silkier and tried again, only firmer and louder. "Look at me." He bad her as gently as he could.

And to his relief, she heard him because she untangled her visage from her lap and she looked at the source of the insistent masculine voice. Naruto felt like someone tore his soul from his chest and stabbed it with millions of swords.

A lump formed into his throat at the sight of her so broken. But her eyes… she cried so bad that she had to blink away the tears that roles in cascades off her big crystalline orbs to clear the blurred sight. "Don't cry like this," The Uzumaki had no idea what to say to her. He has never been interested in soothing a woman or having any form of attachment beside physical contact.

He didn't care because he never fell for a woman before but this young girl... This angel, this lotus flower was exuding an intangible innocence that left his head reeling in awe. He couldn't get her out of his head and it was getting worse by the minute.

Something must have washed through her when she understood who stood behind the bars because more fresh tears came undone from her orbs. Her mannerism was outreach and desperate for she brought her hands upon her chest tucking on what remained intact from the expensive Yukata that dotted her siren curves in a vain attempt to preserve intimacy and recoiled from him, landing on her side with her knees glued together and aligned with the slippery dirty floor.

Why was she afraid of him? Oh yeah, she was associating him with whoever touched her because it was quite clear that they _did_ lay a fingr on her porcelain skin. Oh, the urge to break something right there and then grew lupine inside the Uzumaki.

But he kept his composure pretty much like Sasuke will do in such a context or any other for the matter, and his orbs grew softer as he tried again. "I know that I don't deserve any of your trust but don't be scared of me. I am not here to hurt you or to offend you in any way."

She didn't seem to register his words for her sobs almost kicked the wind out of her lungs. Her eyes were filled with dread and apprehension and they were so distant and sad; so bottomless, desperate and grieving and it was heartbreaking. But Naruto wasn't the one to give up so easily in fact he never submersed into the abysses of cowardliness. He was lucky to find her here so fast and he wouldn't let this chance slip past his fingers. " _Please_."

His azurite orbs were genuine and he seemed like a ray of sun amidst the putrid decaying atmosphere from the village and the prison. He outstretched his hand that went through the bars up to the elbow and he held it there towards her expectantly.

She still didn't respond. "I want to help you. Let me help you Miss." He refrained from being vulgar and flirt provocatively with the lady so he didn't use any appelative such as 'beautiful' or 'angel' and lose credibility in front of her. "I can think of a safe way to get you out of here but you have to cooperate. Please help me save you from here. I don't want to see you here."

She stared into those big round crystal blue eyes that shone beautifully on his tanned boy's figure for as long as a round of sizzling tears rolled like pearls from her shimmering eyes that were bloodshot red from so much crying.

Her body convulsed automatically; she drew her shoulder together, used the back of her hand to brush off the wet cheeks and used her palms to push herself up from the ground.

Her legs shaken for a bit but she regained balance quickly, and she actually let her bare feet slide along the floor. He still had his hand spanned to her. Offering his help genuinely. He just hoped that none of his comrades especially Kiba and Suigetsu will come down and see this weak side of him.

He wasn't afraid of him being mocked, but more for Hinata's well-being. If he screwed this up then he risked her own integrity. "I am someone you can trust in here Miss. I realize that you don't believe me but I am being completely honest. I am not lying or trying to trick you. You have to believe me that I am not."

Hinata stared into his eyes again then flickered her eyes to his fingers that were open and offered to her to respond, expecting her to believe him. She seemed to have calmed a bit and the tears that she sprinkled were now softer, but she was till sobbing.

Naruto could inspect her state and take in her peregrine lunar features, especially her eyes. She had a mesmerizing set of margarite lilac eyes. They really like a set of glowing silvery pearls and violet moons. And then something stirred inside her.

Because she lifted her quivering hand to his outstretched one and instead of taking it like he anticipated, it went past his fingers and they traveled between the bars easily since she was a snowflake of grace and fisted into a ball, smacking his chest pretty hard for someone with a chakra restrained clamped around her ankle.

She hit him as hard as she could in a vain threat to alleviate some torment. She hit him twice. Landing a hit where near aimed with his Bakugan and Naruto understood that it was training leading her lumber movements. She knew the arts of the infamous Hyuga style of blocking the chakra net.

As Hinata started to pound into this stranger, her cool started to drift off her system and she almost hit her cheek and forehead on the bars of her prison. Naruto winced in pain but didn't say a thing, as he was simply staring at her unruly behavior vaguely wondering whether she has gone insane or not, unable to respond in any way.

When he felt that this was going nowhere, he merely folded his fingers around her wrists covering her hands easily with his bigger ones and squeezed them once gently so as not hurt her, but enough to signalize that she was acting stupid.

Hinata tried to pry her hands off and flinch back but Naruto didn't let go. Their forms were glued to the bars and their chests and foreheads touch, making it look like their silhouettes were molding against the bars.

Naruto involuntarily followed her body language as she shook from his grip. Her luscious hair fluttered like a silk veil and the two folds that cupped her chest came loose to revealed a generous cleft; his mouth went dry when the swell of her breasts bounced with the motion and drew together in half of a kiss as he brought her hands together in order to prevent her from punching him.

He deserved it and he knew it.

Naruto didn't mean to be a pervert but he was a man and it was an involuntary peep. Luckily she had her eyes squeezed shut and hasn't caught him yenning for her gifted body. Thanks Kami.

"Stop, don't act this way, you will only hurt yourself. Conserve your energy, you are so weak and cold. " She stopped at his husky whisper. Naruto was so out of his normal character while talking sweetly to this woman but he couldn't be obstreperous and scare her worse than she was, and attract the attention of the others to the bizarre couple.

"W-Why do you care?!" Hinata stuttered in a broken voice that was bathed in tears and it even stunned Naruto how soprano suave it was, crayoning the picture of a nightingale locked in a golden cage. "What do you want from me?!" Hinata cried to him while damming and cursing him with her eyes alone. "I-I don't s-seek for a-any help f-from someone like you! Y-You k-killed my younger sister!"

Naruto shut his widened orbs and sighed once. Her soft tune went lower and an another round of tears fell loose of their confinement. "M-my p-pregnant sister..." His head snapped up to her taking in those crystalline vitreous orbs bathed in misery.

The Hyuga woman glued her forehead against the bars, as her voice broke in millions strings of a shattered violin. She wanted to die. When the enemy targeted the two horses that carried their carriage away from the Hidden Leaf by Neji`s secret order, the scared animal jerked violently and the wheels of the carriage slide while they passed the bridge as it fell from it into the cascade.

Hinata has managed to escape simply because the door from her side opened by chance just in time, but when she tried to grasp her sister`s hand that reached out to her, she couldn't because the carriage has dragged her along before she even had time to react.

They took a howling Hinata as a prisoner, without even giving her the chance to mourn for her loss. This happened half a day ago. A pair of warm tender hands cupped her moist high cheeks. Naruto brought her palms to rest on his chiseled pectorals that protruded through his clothes and she looked at him in confusion, surprise ebbed all over into those violet pearl orbs. "I am sorry. I truly am."

She bit the lower lip and her voice got icy and tad revolted. "S-Sorry? Y-your regret w-won't bring Hanabi-chan b-back to u-us... N-nor will i-it bring b-back her unborn b-baby." When they locked gazes again, Hinata made something break inside whim with her next line. "I-If you genuinely want to h-help me t-then grant t-this only f-favor.. K-kill me."

Naruto`s cup of her cheeks almost skimmed across her delicate face, but lingered on her jaw and she didn't pull back this time. Her hands slide to his chest and fell between them. Naruto missed the contact with her suave touch; she was so tender and so warm.

"I-I want to go a-after her in H-heaven. I can't live without my sister and… I-I can't e-even talk to m-my Nii-san. You will k-kill him soon anyway, t-that I know. Sir," Hinata pleaded with him without any ray of hope left in her chest. "kill me. K-kill me now, I h-hate this."

Naruto just stood there rooted to the ground and unable to utter a single word. She was so ready to give up. Should he even fight for someone who was so adamant in giving up fighting and accepted her fate so easily?

This Hyuga ontology about Fate annoyed him to no end. They were all diligently bowing before destiny. He furrowed his eyebrows at her as the words rung from his broad chest. "No... _No_!"

Naruto didn't mean to snap at her like this and this even surprised her but he was vehement. This was so annoying like Sasuke would put it.

"You won't die. _I_ won't let you die. I will get you out of here you have my word Miss. But you have to continue to live. And if you don't want to do it for you, then do it for your sister." He knew he hit a nerve here when bringing up her deceased relative and she reacted accordingly to his surmise.

Those milky-way eyes shone more vibrant than any crystals. "Be strong for her. Your Nii-san is Hyuga Neji, right? He will not die. We won't kill any prisoner, of that you can rest assured. Your friends will live. We aren't _that_ cruel and neither is Sasuke-Teme. Trust me on this one." Naruto`s whiskered comical visage grew serious and his words were resolute and uplifting. "You belong to the Hyuga clan, don't you?"

Naruto was desperate to play his cards right with this woman as he sensed that she was neither stupid nor irrational and naïve.

Hinata nodded reluctantly once as she pondered her options carefully. Of course that she didn't trust this man at all, but something in the way he rolled the words with so much candor urged her to put her trust into him for the moment; she needed a ticket out of there and _fast._

The golden haired man with the most vibrant blue eyes that she has ever seen brushed the rivulets of tears that fell from her orbs with his thumbs and she sobbed once into his caress. "Y-Yes, b-but–"

"–your name, " Naruto beseeched though his tone never wavered from a low soothing vibrato. Her stuttering manner of talking amused him a bit and honestly, Naruto found it lovingly cute. "Tell me your name. I don't know what to call you. I just saw you earlier and I... hehe… well I was just–" Naruto felt some sort of electrical bolt surge through his spine and he didn't know the name of that sentiment, but all that he was sure of was that he _absolutely_ needed to learn how they called this beauty. "Please Miss, I need to know your name."

There was a mysterious thing latched to his eyes, something soothing and comforting and it was stupid to feel like this towards the enemy but his demeanor wasn't monstrous and savage like his friend`s with that peculiar raven hair friend and his terrible iciness, and before she could stop herself Hinata muttered to him. "H-Hinata. My name is Hyuga Hinata, Sir."

His orbs got warmer and filled with a lucent shimmering like he learned the name of Providence written on the golden Gates of Paradise.

Oh, how he hated any title of respect as much as Sasuke did and this is why he beamed a goofy grin that illuminated the entire cell suddenly and his serene voice voltefaced into a comical inflection. "Hinata..." The Uzumaki heir probed her name with a flicker of his tongue, finding it so fitting and elegant. " _Hinata_."

He brushed a fallen lock out of her temple and tucked it behind her ear shell. "Don't call me any honorifics because it makes me feel old and we both know that I don't deserve it. Just _Naruto_ will be fine." The blonde man found it titillalting the way his much bigger palm coiled around her petite ones, dropping it in a sizzling radiance. " _Uzumaki_ Naruto."

"A-are you leaving?" Hinata grew agitated when he smiled to her in a way that made something soar into her chest like seeking for salvation and freedom, as the Uzumaki abruptly pulled back from and pivoted on his heel, intention clear.

He brushed a hand through his hair unruly blob of aureate spikes giving her a full vista of his lean back. For a moment, a horrifying figment of him only coming down to her to play some cruel mind games and laugh at her pathetic state coursed through her like a thunder storm. "w-what about y-your pro–"

"–don't worry Hinata. I will never go back on my word. This is my _Nindo_ after all, my ninja way. I will get you out of here just like I have promised. You just try to be strong and live until I come back."

" _T-Thank you_ …"

That soft farewell was the last pleasant thing he has heard before Naruto existed the place, squeezing his orbs shut as the morning rays that were creeping through the oval window in the wall hit his sensitive cornea and he traipsed casually past a really tall serene man who was guarding the place, addressing him sternly. "The Hyuga girl," His voice was cold, detached and seemingly related to no emotion as the words flew out of his mouth. "no one is to touch her without my consent. I will _personally_ deal with her."

Naruto didn't need to fake malice intent in front of the gentle Sound ninja for the man knew that Naruto absolutely loathed violence in all its forms and he was an avid defender of peace. "Of course. Do you plan in taking her under your wing?"

Naruto didn't respond to Juugo`a curious inquiry for they both knew the answer to that; it was visible from the panic radiating through his system as Naruto speeded down the stairs into the prisons like a desperate thirsty man trying to reach an oasis of salvation in the middle of the scorching dessert.

Juugo has been asked to watch the prisoners, because he had patience and his tranquil demeanor wasn't agitating them and inspired them to revolt and if someone tried to be funny and desperate to obtain his liberty, then his bipolar side reversed to a heartless monster set on killing and consequently no one will pass him unarmed. He was the best gatekeeper and a valuable shinobi in their group of rogue nins, plus Sasuke was the only one able to tame the violent nature lying dormant inside him with the power of his hypnotic Sharingan.

.

.

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* * *

"Looking for something?" An alto inflection that was smoother than sateen and infused with tinges of dark mint chocolate and cognac made her halt in her speeding movement, whipping her head behind her shoulder to glance around and try to locate the source of the shivering baritone voice.

She removed her sandals beforehand because it slowed her glossy movements down. She stood there unmoving with her small feet tapping the rinsed soil which was staining her ankles, sharpening her senses that went haywire. Some fine red lines were garnishing the opaline of her skin from the broken branches that grazed her skin but she didn't care.

Her heart ticked like a pendulum`s swings thumping into her ribcage in anticipation.

She couldn't see him anywhere as she stood there alone in the murky virgin forest with her emerald orbs sprinkled in all the horizons, following the smallest flicker of a leaf or a gush of a fine sound –anything that it could help her find him.

She even attempted to find his position by feeling chakra but it was useless, since he clearly had it masked or nothing left, which was highly improbable.

Her long pink tresses whirled and splashed against the silk of her clothes as they followed the enthralling motion of her elegant kinesics. She was resembling an angel lost in a decadent Paradise. Amused onyx orbs were fixated on her form from the moment she fell into his consciousness.

Sakura froze in shock when an ominous aura roared from behind her and hit the curve of her back in turbulent waves of blazing heat, knocking the wind out of her lungs. Briskly, Sakura whirled around to the source of the noise as the owner decided to finally step outside the shadows and reveal himself in all his splendor. She froze entirely unable to even blink so that she won't miss that silhouette.

There stood the culprit; the man whose imprint rose in the form of a fine spiral oozing from the embers of fire sizzling from the ruins of the tattered village. She recognized him immediately, because those menacing vibes were unmistakable.

She didn't meet him in person before but she knew for certain that it was him – _Uchiha_. Only an Uchiha could be limned as something so listless and devastating. And the first peculiar feature that stood out above anything else, even above the impressive strength that exuded from his sculpted form that was evident from the way he stood proud, lean and straight like a fir tree without a flinch or a crinkle on his forehead, was his _physiognomy._

Because no matter how much of a decadent man he was, this Uchiha young man was breathtakingly _beautiful._ Had it been another context, then Sakura would have laughed humorlessly at the _irony_ of it when images of how she envisioned his semblance with that of a beast just a few hours ago overlapped with the real thing.

She was still pinned to the ground by his stare alone as they made contact in a small clearing as if he waited for the best moment to corner her somewhere where she couldn't hide from him. He was smart; she cursed herself for the stupidity but her body simply wouldn't turn around from him.

His force and the arrogance of knowing how implacable he truly was oozed from his kinetics. He started to traipse casually towards her like he was meeting an old goods friend when in reality she was an obvious prey to him.

Her heart thumped within the casket of her chest and her lungs pressed her ribs painfully. Every step he took made his lithe silhouette look like his form was traipsing on water; like he was floating on thin air and it was chilling.

She felt akin to a cornered prey. A lamb into the lupine gaze of a dark puma. This male looked dangerous and fast as lightening. It was clear from his athletic building that he relied on speed rather than brute force and those amazingly obsidian-hued orbs unearthed unmitigated intelligence. This man wasn't stupid at all.

Sasuke didn't stop traipsing to the woman until he was two steps –two agonizing steps– away from her, observing and breathing her in as she was splendid and captivating; she was beyond angelic, she was a precious beauty he will even try to deny it.

Shockingly, it was the Uchiha the first one to break the silence, addressing her in a way that sent electric vibes along the pillar of her spine. "Are you the one they call the Priestess of Tea?" Of course that he wouldn't run in circles or beat around the bush, Sakura mentally nodded.

She remained silent as a solitary star, not answering to his demand, knowing that it will get on his nerves. Was he really expecting her to obey him just like that?

Sasuke took his precious time to drink every inch of her form as she stood motionless before him, noticing how she extended into an enthralling magical scenery, being ethereal in those airy clothes that were dotting her curves and the avant-garde mien, finding himself staring to the soupcon of her virgin long hair and the crystalline hue of her eyes more than he would like.

An aureate ring diffused into a maze of opalescent jade around her irises and they held more fire than Sasuke has seen in a woman.

A bonfire roaring to life from the pits of her quintessence returned his bottomless piercing state with equal ardor and this made the corners of his lips perk up in a cavalier side smirk. "If you refuse to answer me, then I find myself obliged to take the words out of your mouth by _force._ "

Sakura felt her breath freeze halfway her lungs when Sasuke slide the sword that he had concealed into what looked like an improvised purple belt that kept the folds of his shirt hanging on his supple form from behind his back, as the dark mantle that brushed his ankles fluttered in the wind.

A clangorous metallic sound screeched menacingly as the lucent of the edgy steel blade reflected into her eyes. It had an idiosyncratic sculpture and very unusual for a warrior, and even the tip was different, albeit it looked very potent and lethal.

His entire aura was evil and deadly. And so was the suggestive arrogant yet extremely sensual smirk that played on his lips.

"This must be the most fulfilling prize to get from this godforsaken Village." In less than the sound of a pounding heart beating like a drum inside her chest, Sasuke flickered from her sight of view only to appear before her like a specter, having the blade aligned to the cord of her pulse, merely flinching.

The silky raven spikes that brushed his forehead fluttered past his temples stirred by the astonishing speed of the motion. His icy velvet baritone never changed tonality. He was amazingly calm but Sakura knew better. "Now let's try again." Sasuke pressed the blade on the porcelain of her skin just for the girl to feel the difference in temperature. "Are you the Priestess of Tea?"

It was just obvious from her rushed state, the clothes, and the makeup style and her general atmosphere that this young woman with her pure virgin features was someone elegant and unreachable. He couldn't wait to cage her within his grip and corrupt her to his sinful world.

But she stunned him for the second time because the first time Sasuke laid his set of onyx eyes on her diaphanous form, he couldn't believe how downright _beautiful_ she was in reality.

With a fairly praising speed and skills, Sakura subtly slided her left leg from under the folds of her kimono revealing a tempting gazelle leg and before Sasuke could catch her intention, Sakura tapped her inner thigh that was wrapped in a leather bandage and pulled a slim long sword that she had concealed under her clothes, whirling on her right and swerving on her dominant leg, stepping away from Sasuke where the danger of his own weapon wasn't lingering on her skin, evading a hit by blocking it with her own katana.

The metallic vibration of two blades colliding shrieked through the grave silence of the forest. The volte-face in their stances brought them one breath away from each other while they held the weapons between their chests, both unmoving.

If Uchiha was struck by this move then he was quick in not letting it stain his laconic expression. And never once have his orbs veered from her sparkling emerald ones, not even to diverge her sudden attack. She felt his immense strength surging trough his hold on the blade ricocheting along the blade of her own and travelling along her tensed arms.

"You are not _that_ innocent, are you?" He cocked his head on the side, smirking haughtily at her unexpected skills. "But... your naivety to ponder your chances against me are pitiable. Give up now and I won't hurt you," His derisive tone never left the cynical aura as he assessed her in a way that made fury bubble along her entire form. " _yet_." Something elfin swiveled into his eyes; something that made the tufts of hair behind her ears tauten and Sakura would not deny it –this young man was intimidating.

Sasuke mentally cursed himself for his mistake. She hypnotized him with her vibrant shimmering forest green eyes. Eyes like purest green tea and golden oolong leaves that held his gaze, while only a few shinobi before her had the courage to stay so resolute and not askew from his penetrating glare.

Again, she kept silent but pursed her lips and swiveled on her left foot, infusing chakra into her arms that were clasped around the blade and tried to maneuver the tip and slide it under his own katana in order to make him lose his hold on it, swapping their positions.

But this time, she didn't catch him unprepared. Honestly, Sasuke expected to find a naive helpless woman surrounded by sage, flowers, candles and dream chasers, hiding from him in her little shrine, and not a kunoichi.

 _How interesting._ She managed to elude the range of his slim sword and landed gracefully at a safe distance from him, five steps away from where his shadow spilled to the ground and melted into the limbers of the dawn.

"A shinobi." Sasuke didn't inquire; he concluded and judging from the way her physiognomy changed in a surprised one, Sasuke knew that he hit the nail on the head.

Something changed into his approach, Sakura learned for starters because his hold on the sword tightened and his entire aura tensed and strengthened. She could see the muscles of his sculpted arms flex and his eyes becoming serious. He played with her so far, this much she knew.

"Hn." This taciturn reply was the last thing she heard before he erased his presence from her sight just like before. She dropped into a fighting stance but still maintaining her elegance and grace, attention and intuition spiked to the maximum.

Sakura almost wasn't fast enough to avoid a blow lacerating the air on her left side and she had to a wing around her dominant leg that was barely touching the ground to elude his merciless attack. Her sword clashed with his own again in an intense dance of precious metals and she immediately maneuvered it around her like a splendid warrior, aiming for his shoulder.

But his eyes saw it all happening in slow motion and Sasuke easily pointed his katana up and deviated her attack. Sakura almost lost balance as the blade of her sword passed Sasuke's bicep, grazing his clothes and shoved into the mud.

She quickly spun on her heel, palmed the _Kashira_ of her long sword and tucked on the cord wrap, yanking it from the soil, stretching it to Sasuke who was casually following her like he was a sensei displeased with the performance of his student.

With an unnoticeable curl of his lips downwards, the onyx eyed Uchiha lunged forward again in a fluid flickering, but Sakura did the same at the same time sensing the approach of his implacable attack. She aimed for his neck while he targeted her side, clearly avoiding any vital point on purpose.

Instead of parring her blow, Sasuke dipped down his lithe form so that her sword flung in the air and she seemed to slice through the ruffling wind instead of making contact with his alabaster skin. Sakura had to give him credit for this man with the most obsidian tinged orbs that she had ever seen was fast as lightening.

The almighty Priestess balanced on her dominant leg and pendulated on her heel just like a ballerina crayoned from smoke and wind, swinging her blade around her diaphanous form in a rapid cadence, slicing the thick electrically charged air between their clashing forms with the blade of her weapon.

The sateen plications of her sateen golden sewed kimono fluttered with the circular motion, creating a mesmerizing evanescence effect of glowing fireflies sprinkling from her limber form; her iridescent jade orbs were vitreous and reflecting the fading light of the moon colliding with the edge of her blade as she pierced the Uchiha before her with an intense glance.

She caught him unguarded with such a fierce resolute stare swirling into the depths of her almond shaped cat eyes, entwined with subtle tinged of golden dust around her irises, but his surprise didn't crease the breviloquent mien of his standoffs physiology, keeping it all inside and never reaching his exterior veneering.

Sasuke has made an art from his impenetrable stoicism, being just as impossible to decrypt as the missives enclosed into the faraway stars; so cold and so deceiving in their glowing beauty.

Sakura looked as fierce as a lioness but nonetheless overshadowing a feline in its elegance and beauty; she resembled the portrait of a woman who was well-versed in the arts of deceiving; she knew when to be an angel and when to strike like a warrior. So skillfully that she wasn't hesitant in drawing her sword and raising it to him –an Uchiha– in a silent courageous declaration of war.

A bloodcurdling breeze of a strong wind grazed their forms as they stood motionless and locking their orbs in a commixture of high ambitions and thirst for power.

While Sakura pledged to protect her people from the clasp of evil, Sasuke on the other hand sworn to pay his retribution for his family and his animalistic obsession churned into the crevasse of his nebulous eyes.

A brisk ruffle into the air sparkled in the form of a hollow resonance of metal clashing against metal and sliding along the elongation of a blade when they leaped and lunged forward, each calculating and trying to penetrate the other's guard, striking again.

A breathtaking exchange of effulgent sparkles flickered between their weapons in a succession of blows, each party trying to foreshadow the upcoming attacks and so far, Sasuke's hawk eye seemed to brew the in every single blow that Sakura delivered even before she started her attack.

She quickly pressed hard on her heels, surging a rapid wave of chakra into her feet and fled backwards just in time to avoid a direct hit from Sasuke's katana, as an unfamiliar sound of a voltage discharged along the metal of his weapon warned her about the potency of his attack, landing few good steps away from him.

But Sasuke didn't grant her the chance to plot again nor did he allow her to catch her breathe that froze midway her throat, when his irises grew _claret r_ _ed_ with a lucent tinge of ruby, replacing the mesmerizing shade of onyx and she immediately averted her glance to his lips, evading that stare.

The Sharingan; this was so bad and it sent a spike of pride into her system because it was a proof that this man was regarding her as a _serious_ opponent.

Unfortunately, it only on increased his speed and the accuracy of his attacks and it became evident when he dissipated in a flash and blitzed right in front of her eyes that she was having less chances to win the match.

The graceful Priestess tucked on her blade and brought it up her head to barely avoid a frontal kick; his strength was overwhelming and hair-rising. The ebony haired Uchiha wasn't even giving it his best shots and yet his limber fibers that were flexing deliciously under his chemise exuded of a vigorous power.

She clenched her teeth as his blade slick along her own, scratching the polished surface and trying to pierce through her guard. She has been extremely lucky that they were not compatible but antagonist in terms of chakra natures, since she figured out that the Uchiha was channeling his chakra into the length of his blade, with a genius change into its nature in order to increase the force of its penetration and she was nullifying it with her wind nature.

Of course, Sasuke caught this peculiar detail about his weakness too; what she couldn't explain was his elfin derisive smirk that still creased his firm thin lips.

She summoned her strength and upshot her hands to lessen the pressure of his own weapon pressing against her much petite form and sidestepped, aligning the blade with the ground and quickly tried to slice his neck in a lethal blow.

For the millionth time, Sasuke saw that kind of a flawless skillful attack coming to him in a slick motion, with the help of his demonic eyes that peeled through every detail and the mannerism of her body, and he used his chakra infused Kusanagi blade as a shield to impede her blow, stopping her as it only grazed his shoulder and tore the material of his mantle, slicing his skin just enough to draw a fine line of blood against the alabaster veneer.

Sakura swiveled on her heel and curled the fingers of her left hand into a tight ball and aimed for his high angular jaw, but he intercepted this imminent blow and clasped his hand around her wrist in a bone-cracking grip, twisting it once and making her almost yell in pain, but she bit back a yelp in the last moment.

He used the chance to bent her hand and force her to veer her stance and swiftly curled a muscular hand around her throat to cut the wind supply, but Sakura stunned him again when she quickly stabbed the ground with the sharp tip of her long sword and used it as an axle to pushed hard on the kashira, floating in a whirling spiral above the ground as she enfolded her unoccupied hand above her chest to gain speed and amplitude.

Sasuke took one step back just in time to avoid being stung by the sword that she outstretched to him. Sakura successfully created an extremely effective shield around her spinning form, while he watched her defying gravity so expertly and land on her toes in an amalgamation of lights and penumbras molding along her diaphanous form; she was very gifted and polished in the arts of hand to hand combat, as well as very prolificent with swords.

 _She_ is _strong._

Sasuke clicked on the tip of his tongue exasperated by the unforeseen situation. He didn't have time for this and nor did he have the energy. In all honesty, when the concept of Konoha`s Priestess of Tea started to take form into the layers of his mind, Sasuke imagined to encounter a feeble woman, breakable as fine porcelain into his hands and hiding into the contingents of her little shrine and mixing concoctions from useless plants to serve as nourishment and ointments –he has heard that she had curing powers.

But _goddammit_ , she pulverized any preconceptions he had about her, and the only thing that somehow matched his prescience was her dazzling beauty. She was very young, probably about his age, and yet she had the voluptuous blessings of a ravishing woman, supple and elegant yet so filled in all the plenitude of her violin curves.

Even if he was a connoisseur in masking his emotions underneath his taciturn overcome, Sasuke was pretty tarnished by the fatiguing battle with Sarutobi and he had deep injuries which burned his innards like hell and dissipated the usual precision of his attacks; plus, he was pretty much chakra depleted from overusing his Mangekyo Sharingan which he still had troubles controlling and maintaining for too long, save for some figment that were coming from his stubbornness and sense of pride because, he was being obviously subjected to mockery by this tiffany looking angelic priestess, with fine combat skills.

Also, there was a constant throbbing ache on his left side, right under his ribs from one of Sarutobi's hallmark implacable attacks that pierced through his Susano`o which was supposedly his absolute defense and the impact caught him full force, and sent whitecaps of pain through all of him and it got unbearable.

Sasuke knew that he required immediate medical attention, but he was too proud to retreat and let the cherry blossom fly away and evade him. What a shame, he would rather crawl in agony and die than admit defeat in front of this peregrine looking Priestess.

The concept itself made his stomach queasy and he felt the bitter taste of peoples' simple little beliefs burn him in sheer disgust and revolt.

Based on the bonfire sweltering into her forest green orbs and the finesse of her movements, Sasuke surmised that the woman had shinobi training. Who could have been her master? Could he have been the Hokage himself, the one whose overcome seeped with horror when he vowed to break this dove's wings and crush her freedom?

There was something churning into those claret star shaped fractal orbs of his, something that made the torch of fine hair on her nape stand erect and it was bizarre and extremely overwhelming. Sakura still hasn't met Sasuke`s gaze, mindful for the lethal effects of clashing with an engaged Sharingan but she could clearly feel them boring into her very soul and trying to peel each layer.

It was frightening. This raven hair man has killed numerous ridiculously strong opponents so she was probably just a petal of a blossom in the way of his sharp sword, but she won't give up so easily.

A sudden spike in the air and the sound of the blades of the grass and leaves fluttering in the gush of wind made Sakura upshot her yielding form to the closest tree, landing gracefully on a thick branch as Sasuke unleashed towards her once again.

Of course, he has foreseen her intention clearly and dashed for her location, rippling along the veil of darkness like he was made from shadows and hues of silvery-blue sewed into the sateen of his spikes.

Their swords clashed and collided in a frenetic rhythm of stupendous attacks, each of them chasing the print of their opponent's last attack and trying to delineate the best way to land a deadly blow.

He was moving within the shadows, Sakura noticed, taking advantage of the penumbra around him perfectly flawlessly to help him drape his presence.

This man wasn't afraid of darkness, he was embracing it, welcoming and reveling in it. It was obvious from the easiness in the way his feet slide along the branches that Uchiha was in his favorite element –a piercing solitude and a silence so heavy that knocked the wind out of her lungs.

"Enough of this nonsense." His dark chocolate timbre reverberated through her spine while Sakura barely managed to elude a well-aimed attack of his sword, as Sasuke's sword went through the fine material of her clothes, right above her left thigh and she winced in pain, panting harder and harder with every attack.

She just had to catch him with his guard down and land a punch or a kick with her leg that she infused with the little chakra she had left and send him flying into a tree, so that she can escape him safely.

There was no way that she alone will ever be able to take this shinobi down and Sakura wasn't a delusional woman on the contrary, she was very down to earth and reasonable. She had to find shelter somewhere else and regroup with the other shinobi in order to scheme and take him down. She alone couldn't defeat him so Sakura reviewed her strategy _: escape_ him at all costs and don't fall into his arms as a prisoner.

But just when she was about to avoid another imminent attack, Sasuke waved the familiar signs of the Fire release at top speed and she almost wasn't fast enough to sidestep from the range of the boiling giant ball of flames blew her way from his mouth as he performed his jutsu, spilling flames like a Chinese dragon.

She pushed hard into the branch and whirled backward attempting to get down knowing that her element was weak in front of the Fire one, but she knew that the flames will raise in the air and not hit the ground.

Sasuke`s tempting lips curled in a ghost of a smirk upon seeing that she aimed to land on a lower branch. "Hn. Fool." With a snap of his fingertips, Sasuke used his invisible wire strings that he winded around the branch that Sakura has just landed on in a fake sense of security and cut the branch in smaller logs.

She sucked in a short breath as she realized that she stepped into his clever trap, as the earlier Phoenix Fire Jutsu was merely a simple distraction and not an attack per se, cursing herself for her irresponsibility.

"Ah!" Sakura let out a short cry when she tried to spin around and find a leverage to use and land on another branch safely in order not to collide with the ground violently, but instead she found herself being draped in three wires that curled around her arms, legs and waist and tightened around her in a painful grip, successfully stopping her attempts to steady herself.

Sasuke, who wrapped the rest of the wires around his knuckles jumped from where he stood on a higher branch in the closest to her tree and caught her wiggling silhouette in his arms easily bridal style, just before she crushed on the ground, landing on the grass.

"I finally captured you, _Priestess._ " Sasuke mocked in his idiosyncratic brazen manner, placing her down onto the lush meadows of the grass. Sakura wiggled and tried to pry out of his grip when Sasuke untangled the wires from around her body, trapping her finespun frame under his muscular one, but he muffled her attempts to evade him with a deep dark snap of his lips. "Don't you even dare..."

Sakura's breath refused to leave her lungs when Sasuke forced her hands up to pin her both ones above her head with an iron grip of his right hand, while his right one skimmed from the back of her hands to the sinuous valley between her chest that filled with a subtle hint of cleavage, making her inhale sharply once as they slide into the silk red and golden obi that kept the folds of her long kimono latched to her body.

Never unlocking that hypnotizing eye contact with her widened emerald orbs, Sasuke's vibrant red ruby Sharingan swiveled back to the usual obsidian color, while his fingers loosened the intricate knot and the ribbon came undone.

Sasuke had absolutely zero idea of why on earth was he doing what the _man_ inside him urged him to do, even though his mind screamed at him to take his prisoner and drag her along Konoha's streets to prove his point. He could feel her entire body quiver and tremble under him as his chiseled thighs were straddling her hips but he couldn't care less.

His hand glided into the folds of her robe that formed a V-shape against her chest and unwrapped the splendid sewed material from her form and roughly dragged it down her shoulders as she squirmed to get out of his grip, but he quickly caught her wrists again and pinned her now bare shoulders back on the ground, shadowing her.

Unlike her state until that moment when she fought him so exquisitely, the entrapping Priestess quivered like a leaf carried away by the storm and that fear exuding from her form was fueling the monster into Sasuke's chest.

 _What was going on?_ Sakura fought back the sizzling tears that aligned with the curves of her eyelashes upon realizing what Sasuke's objective was. No, _no_! He couldn't possibly be doing what she thought he was about to do, was he?

This ridiculously handsome midnight haired man didn't strike as someone to force himself on a woman, despite the obvious lust for blood and obsession with retribution; he didn't need to, for his looks alone was enough to get him any woman in his bed with a single glance from those enthralling onyx pools.

Of course... This was his _revenge_ for her symbolism to the villagers of Konoha, Sakura thought bitterly. Then he could crush their spirit and hope by gloating about how he took their Priestess in a forest right under her shrine, like two animals driven by carnal lust and hormones.

All that ascending fright was clear for Sasuke to depict in her mannerism. He could see her bravado being replaced by a fear and she was reduced to a helpless puppet in his hands.

And the first thing that his energetic orbs caught as they were traipsing along her mesmerizing visage was her luscious bright red rouged mouth.

Those lips of hers looked glossier than dark cherries and sateen, and a sudden thirst to taste them upsurge through his spine but Sasuke realized that she will try to pry him off and not reciprocate so he hasn't tipped down to kiss her; even _he_ understood that if it wasn't a consensual act, then it will come out as a nasty experience; plus, it embodied something intimate and seemingly affectionate between two people and not something to share with a woman that he felt no attachment for.

He remembered his mother's pecs and the meaningful warmth behind the gesture, understanding that such an act was aimed to trigger feelings and in the present context, it will come out as meaningless and brutal, which Sasuke wasn't.

He took a moment to only stare at the woman wiggling beneath him, studying every inch of her body as she stood au naturel before his hungry eyes, with no barrier to protect her modesty from him.

He felt how tense and nervous she was being a captive of his cruelty and so exposed, but Kami, her skin was opaline and glowing with a diaphanous radiance into the moon's platinum blue rays that diffused through the lush of vegetation and the maze of leaves.

Every delineation of her siren form took an elegant rise and fall as she was beyond picturesque; Sasuke let his unhurried gaze travel from the flute of her swan neck, to the fine bones of her shoulders and collarbone that took a sudden amplitude around her chest, filling her supple breasts with a luscious pallor and a rosy color of a lily, tempting him and looking incredibly soft to the touch.

The curb of her slim waist resembled the contour of a violin framing her slim stomach and the rounded bones cupping her firm hips, added a subtle touch of womanhood and fertility to the image of a maiden.

Slowly he trailed his stare lower to cleavage that parted her toned thighs, revealing her in all the splendor of a gifted woman, beautifully crayoned. Nothing about her was grotesque or less than absolute. She was perfect. Those long legs the entangled between his own as he kept her pinned down under him; Sasuke could only imagine them bestraddling his hips while he found a perfect angle to make her feel like a woman.

Every inch of her naiad form was an amalgamation of margarite and ivory rose, so untouched and supple and looking softer than the touch of any silk. She was filled so perfectly elegant in all the places that coaxed the male inside him to come and possess her ruthlessly.

The vista of her so pure and suave beckoned Sasuke even more to take her in the most primal way, without any shame right here, in the middle of nature and under the naked eye of the gods she prays to. This summoned an arrogant feeling of self-satisfaction.

She was ethereal. His mind was untrained in how he should process further, unlike when he had to fight for the hard training came in natural as his skilled hand probed the touch of his katana, but something at the back of his inner self instructed Sasuke to not rely on logic this time, because the male inside him knew exactly all the steps of this waltz as well as the words of this secret language so he just had to listen.

Guided by those innate instincts, the Uchiha let his hands that were constricting Sakura's wrists slide upwards to curl around her arms, guiding them up on either side of her head, not wanting to risk her to deliver an unexpected blow with that monstrous strength that she kept amassed inside her, leaving her more vulnerable.

Plus, the motion stretched the yielding tissue of her breasts as they rise and appeared firmer and ampler than before. His onyx orbs immediately fell on the pair of tulip-like nipples perking up because of the sudden change in temperature as a gush of cool wind blew past their forms, pricking with fine crinkles and begging to be tasted.

He went silent and Sakura found his lack of response suffocating. She refused to look him in the eyes when she understood what his intention was, so she eschew her emerald orbs facing a small clearing where the moon's rays created a small pool of light into the darkness and the only sound that she perceived was her unsteady breaths and his heartbeat that picked up its pace.

She felt his eyes on her form, lingering on the curves of her femininity and a ghost of a blush rose into her cheeks when she envisioned Sasuke looking so openly at her denuded form.

She wanted to scream without a reason and the silence was pounding with the rush of anticipation. Honestly Sakura was positive that he will be fast to peel the clothes off her body and take her like an animal for as long as he will last in all the most brutal positions that he could think of and she braced herself for the immense pain that will come along, only… he didn't do anything to resemble what she has imagined.

He kept her trapped under him and looking at her intently, studying her like studying a virgin territory that was so unfamiliar to him, taking in any detail of her form and it was even more embarrassing and uncomfortable than if he would have simply satisfied his urges and mindless to the rest.

 _Why was he looking at her like that?_

But her train of thoughts has been cut short when she felt him lowering his stance to her as he dipped his head down to the side of her neck, letting her feel his warm breath fan across her skin. Sakura pressed her canines down her lower lip to prevent a yelp to escape her mouth when a pair of moist lips latched to her pulse, suckling on her skin, the sensation being new and tickling.

She tried to pry her hands off his grip when she realized that this man was trying to take away what she had the purest out of her own accord, as soon as Sasuke slide his tongue along her throat and descending down to her chest. His touch burned her along the spine and sent chills along her limbs.

But he silenced her with a dark inflection almost hissing to her threateningly. "Don't." She stopped squirming and trying to use her kneww and kick him in his groin while he lowered his body more to press on her own.

An electrical bolt surged through her entire form and sent her reeling into imponderability when Sasuke's lips lowered around an erect nipper, not being able to resist the unexplainable urge any longer and instinctively his firm lips enclosed the rosy bundle, feeling it tauten into his mouth and he suckled on it with thirst in his dry throat.

He let go of it with a sudden _pop_ as a trail of saliva span from his lips glistening on her soft skin, while his tongue encircled the swollen bud, massaging it. He locked her hands together in a grip of his right one as he freed his left hand to meander freely along her body.

Sasuke`s warm palm traipsed along the back of her hand, leaving a trail of hot shivers in his way, coming to cup her right globe and probing the supplecy of her velvety skin as it ripped under his touch, enjoying the way it fit into the curve of his hand and he gave a tentative squeeze applying as much pressure as his intuition told him to, in order not to transgress the border between pleasure and pain.

"Mmnn... " He resisted the need to smirk against her skin when Sakura pushed her teeth harder into her lower lip in order to bit back a moan that would betray her mind's desperate attempt to run from him; her body _enjoyed_ the treatment silently screaming for _more._

The signs were more than noticeable in the way she involuntarily arched her lower back to make him take more of her supple tissue into his hot mouth and it was a yen for relief that Sakura couldn't control. She didn't expect him to be so arousing, so hot and so dexterous but then again, he was an extremely gifted shinobi, very graceful and precise in maneuvering his sword so naturally that his hands were trained to respond to body language, just like now.

He didn't want to just basket in the into the arrogance of having stained her purity, he wanted to see her _humiliated_ by the fact that she will end up **begging** him for more. And this was even worse than simply forcing himself on her since he was trying to wield her mind too, and not only her body.

The percussion of her heartbeats coming in rapid rhythms pounced into his mouth as Sasuke let his tongue skim along the swell of her mound, then returning back to suckle on her erect nipple, pulling on her skin hard as far as the elastic tissue would allow him, arching his neck to gain amplitude to the motion like a lion peeling the flesh of its prey, while his other hand discovered a maddening rhythm to knead the other twin by using his thumb to roll and rub against the other rosy bundle, her reaction being almost immediate.

Sakura`s inhales grew even sharper than before and the suppressed moans reverberated all along her body, urging her to release the obvious state of pleasure in another way.

Involuntarily, as she tried to evade that blissful but _unwanted_ sensation that his ministrations elicited into her body, Sakura accidentally rubbed her bare-skinned hips against his own, and the sudden contact between their hot bodies grinding so deliciously fitting against each other, in all the perfect angles, made Sasuke hiss deeply into his chest and Sakura to almost cry out in pleasure.

It only took that amazingly chilling discharge of electricity along his spine for Sasuke to adapt to the new fluid motion as he straightened his shoulders, removing his lips from her swollen breast that his lips were caressing and arched his spine deeply once, flexing his hips and grounded against her hard, experimentally, rubbing the front of his pants that protruded with obvious arousal against the cleft between her thighs, intently studying her reaction.

The contact came more violent than before. Sasuke almost rolled his eyes until they hit the back of their sockets while Sakura released a silent cry and whipped her head over her shoulder refusing to stare at his face. Oh God, it felt intense.

He repeated the motion again and again until her lips spread open to take more gulps of air and soft murmurs traveled from her arched throat.

"Enjoying yourself _Priestess_?" He brought his lips to the shell of her, ear whispering hotly and mockingly as he inhaled the fragrance of her feminine natural scent and the perfume of magnolia, cherry blossoms and red roses oozing from her yielding skin, getting dizzy with desire.

She shook her head vehemently _no_ but that only made him smirk cruelly knowing that she was half lying.

"I don'tmind you struggling to keep silent because it is going to be ten times better when _I_ make you scream and beg _me_ for more and to go _harder_ on you and move _faster_. "

The fact that he was cynical and had no vocabulary restraint was just obvious, but the fact that he liked to dirty talk his victims was unexpected. The worst part of it was that he kept talking and it didn't help at all.

It wasn't like Sakura was ready to melt into the arms of the enemy and fall for her abuser, but this was only her heart and mind do the talking, because her body refused to cooperate to the reasonable figment. She was a young healthy woman, ripped by the touch of adulthood and this was the most gorgeous man that she has ever seen.

Not only was he beautiful like a dark angel, but everything about him was ridiculously arousing. His voice alone, that unique inflection infused with the baritone touch and dark chocolate and cognac was alone to drive any woman crazy for him.

And the way he touched her, the gentleness and the passion that he wasn't supposed to display to a woman that he wanted to capture and humiliate, were beyond exciting.

The onyx eyed Uchiha evoked new sensations inside her and she knew that she wouldn't last longer opposing him but at the same time she felt paralyzed in fear. Sakura _didn't_ want him, she didn't want this, she didn't want to give herself to him but she couldn't think of a way to fight him.

Those ruby eyes of his Sharingan that were currently locked were unforgiving and she couldn't use her fists to punch him because he also used chakra to keep her tied up by his hand alone.

If only she could wave the Summoning Jutsu signs with her hands to call for her Slug and save herself… but Sasuke seemed to have anticipated this for he kept her fingers entwined so she couldn't find a good angle to press her palm to the ground.

 _Damn it!_

Her inhales hitched halfway her lungs again when Sakura felt him pressed his mouth on her chest grazing his teeth down the curve of her stomach and travelling down to throbbing warm places, sliding his tongue across her bellybutton and never stopping there. She wanted to melt into the ground in embarrassment when she realized what his intention was.

Sakura tried to clasp her thighs shut and prevent Sasuke from touching her in her most intimate places but he easily locked her left leg under him when he pressed his knee down her thigh until it became painful, and used his left hand that skimmed along her ribs and the curve of her hip bone to squeeze her knee and forced her legs to stretch her thighs wider.

Her cheeks flamed when he glued her thigh to the ground, exposing her to his eyes like no one did before. Sasuke kept her forcibly pinned in that shameful position when she tried the kick him off her growling low on his cheat darkly.

"Don't you even try or else..." His command was short and that angle felt so uncomfortable, the disgrace weighed down painfully like an ocean of sadness pressing upon her chest. She wanted to cry while following the way his concupiscent gaze took in the way she unfolded like a rose before him.

She was beautiful and tempting and so was her body. Every part of her was superior in grace and finesse. Her folds framed her core like lace petals joined in the shape of the tip of an arrow protecting the aperture inside her, in a way so deliciously graphic that it made Sasuke's own muscles spasm painfully.

A constricting tension lingered heavily in his lower abdomen, screaming at him to be forcibly pushed inside her, hard and calloused. But he will die if he just proceeded to fuck her senseless before tasting her skin first.

The way her intimate parts glistened like pearls on sateen under the moonlight exuding of a feminine fragrance which invaded his nostrils and filled his mind with desire, was too irresistible let go. Never in his life has Sasuke felt such a yenning for a woman but then again this one wasn't an ordinary girl either.

And once he breaks her beyond repair, once he makes her _his,_ then the hope and faith of her people will break along her purity. This thought alone made something swell into his chest and feeding the monster within him, replacing the emptiness in his heart.

"Ah-" Sakura bit the inside of her cheek until the taste of copper filled her mouth, when Sasuke settled between her legs comfortably and flickered his tongue over her sensitive folds in order not to scream out loud.

Her hips upshot like she attempted to fly off the ground, forcing his mouth to sink deeper into her and bit back a cry in the last moment.

This feeling was something indescribable. It sent burning electric shivers rippling along her spine and limbs and nesting to her toes.

She taste like the Ambrosia that Gods craved for Sasuke noticed. A subtle fragrance of peaches and oak tree leaves oozed from her and the more his tongue slide along the softness of her lower lips, massaging and nipping at them with his lips, suckling her greedily, then the more juices rolled from her body into his mouth; her milky essences immixed into his hot saliva as he rolled his tongue tantalizingly around her entrance.

This was good, he mentally decided and his own body reacted accordingly. Sasuke surely felt himself filling out and getting hotter in places that begged to be set free to unite with their counterpart and he almost lost his mind imagining himself deeply lodged inside her.

There were sizzling tears aligned with the curve of her long eyelashes as unadulterated carnal pleasure started to consummate her from the inside out. It was so difficult not to moan out loud albeit her harsh pants turned into soft musical mewls that she kept as low as possible. Sakura won`t grant him the satisfaction of hearing her obey his order.

Scream. Beg me. _Never!_

Out of reflex, Sakura flexed her spine and pushed her body higher when a certain roll of his tongue found a hidden bundle of nerves that was tauten swollen and protruded from her creased folds, begging for attention. And attention it got all right when his lips latched to the perked glistening pearl, suckling hungrily on it.

She buckled her hips once in a silent plea for more, much to his amusement. "Ahh!" So much for keeping silent. Sasuke was howling and laughing Iike a beast inside him, at the way she enjoyed what he was doing for her.

Her body was sweltering like a furnace at his fondlings and deep inside her belly, there was something that he could feel amassed in tight knots yearning to be deflowered and let to explode, and a bulb into his head told him that he should stop before she came undone from whatever was making her body so helplessly disarray and squirming under him, and take her.

He quickly pulled back from her after one last long lick along the cleft between her folds, leaning between her legs and forcing her spread open, and brought his face to shadow her own. She opened her vibrant orbs that filed with glassy tears up to look into his deep sapphire one's and he breathed to her in his distinctive husky vibrations.

"You taste divine," Sasuke fanned hotly and darkly across face. His mint intertwined with her harsh pants. "I would kiss you and let you taste yourself on my lips, but you are no one significant to me for me to do such an act, other than a simple _slut_." Something flipped into her cheat at the brazen insult. She was untouched and pure as a snowflake, and yet he called her a coquettish woman. She hurt even though it shouldn't have affected her like this but it did.

A tear rolled from under her shimmering eyes when she felt a hand coming between their flush bodies shifting, and it was only when she saw him unzip his dark pants and slide them down from his firm hips has she realized that this was indeed happening.

When his dark boxers followed the same motion as his pants as he tossed them carelessly behind him, her mind filled with panic, abandoning the earlier built up of immense pleasure sizzling inside her belly.

A hard muscular appendage slide between her glistening petals that were sticky from her essences and his saliva mixed together, and their hotness combined in a magnetizing voltage when Sasuke started to rub his manhood against her pulsating core, sending ripples of pleasure rolling down her body and residing in her lower abdomen.

Sakura was so scared of him, of what he was about to do, of how generous the mother nature has been with this gifted man, about how would he fit into her petite body, about the pain that he won't mind inflicting, and about how she will have her first time with a man who destroyed the village that she held so dearly.

She didn't want him and not like this. This was something to give to her lover; to someone she loved and to someone who loved her dearly, and not to this despicable Uchiha male in his blinding thirst for power and revenge. She didn't want such a disgrace.

Something didn't sit right with him and although Sasuke barely kept himself not to slam inside her like a ruthless man, feeling himself engorged of too much blood accumulated into his groins, he furrowed his perfect eyebrows and growled to her harsher than he planned.

"Speak." He needed to hear her voice full and clear. That silence irritated him for it was arrogant and defiant and so unfit in the context and even though he was a stoic man, this even annoyed him. "You can't keep on being silent forever."

Sakura still kept her stare averted from him, refusing to meet his gaze. He flipped his approach in a nanosecond as he felt her stiffen under his body. "Say something or I will make it agonizingly _painful_ for you and I won't regret any second of it."

Those words sent shivers along her limbs but her mouth remained clasped. His eyes went instinctively to those petals. They looked so delicious luscious and succulent and so tempting to be licked and nipped at, bitten and massaged by his own and immediately his mouth went dry. A knot tightened into her belly in a painful clasp; she was very scared. She was scared of this man.

"How pathetic." Sasuke said coldly; so cold that it made her tear instantly realizing that he didn't even treat her like a worthy opponent who he has defeated, but like one cheap prostitute. It was insupportable. "How easy would it be for me to just break your wings. It's not even funny."

She looked into his eyes and felt all the light leaving her body. It was so frozen, so distant and amorphous; a pitch darkness that drowned her until it became impossible to breathe or escape from that maze.

Never in her life has Sakura encountered such a standoffish man, with such an inhospitable aura. It was similar to having a steel shield dotted around his person which kept everyone at distance. From this point of view, Sasuke was like a star: so beautiful yet so far out of reach, cold and mysterious. And those eyes... Those black sapphire orbs were piercing, penetrating and inexorable.

He stunned her for the millionth time. A touch more tiffany than the first morning rays of sun grazed the curve of her opaline cheek and she flinched away from his touch turning her head askew from him. Her spine straightened and her jade orbs traipsing to his face. His chin stood proud and brazen not tipping down once to assess her, only those nebulous eyes of his slide down to look at her lithe form.

She gulped the lump in her throat but it didn't alleviate the tension. He was so strong that it was exuding from his every pore, his mannerism betrayed the paramount of grace and elegance and his composed overcome latched to the implacable darkness and coldness of his demeanor crayoned the profile of a striking lethal shinobi.

One who was good enough to assassinate the legendary Sarutobi Hiruzen; a man whose wisdom was only seconded by his battle skills. "Monster..." Those were the very first coherent lines that reached him and the softness of her timbre grazed him like silk against the smooth skin. "Y-You are a monster."

Sasuke smirked cruelly at her choice of words, figuratively showing of his, because instead he uncovered a row of white pearl teeth. Only a demon… someone who wasn't even human could be so absolute gorgeous like this man was. And that scared Sakura. His implied perfection scared her because she knew it that it percolated from his villainous inner self.

"Yeah," His baritone voice seeped with amusement because her tremendous implication wasn't fazing him; he was so used to be called by this indomitable appellative somehow associating it with his purpose in life. "I am a monster," Any words froze on the tip of her tongue when a paralyzing pain lacerated her lower body burning and stinging worse than anything. "the _worst_ of the demons." Sasuke growled at her as he squeezed his onyx orbs shut when he guided the tip of his swollen member between the rose thatch that dotted her inner lips, poking at her strained entrance and penetrated her in one fluid motion until he felt an elastic barrier preventing him to advance further.

Honestly, Sasuke genuinely expected this woman to be a high-class prostitute even though her mannerism screamed otherwise albeit he learned to look underneath deception a long time ago plus women of all social ranks and ages kept on giving him the eye and cling to him all the times, much to his annoyance.

But this Priestess was indeed _pure._ Which was just perfect. Oh well... realizing that he would need to pierce her until she bleed, Sasuke pulled back a bit until he was almost out of her, much to the girl`s whimpers in pain and then entered her fully in one strong sleek motion of his firm hips, slamming into her and feeling all the oxygen leaving his lungs at the unexpected contact.

"AAAHHH!" Sakura couldn't hold it back anymore, she screamed from the depths of her chest in searing pain when it literarily tore her in half. Sasuke didn't even give her a chance to catch her breath for he repeated the same motion, retracting halfway only to thrust again inside her, glissading into her smooth passageway easier than the first time.

"NO! STOP IT! GET AWAY! NO!" Due to his word, Sasuke did make her _scream_ and although not even the Uchiha himself was sure about how exactly would he want to hear her voice shout out loud, she had a melodious inflection, even if it was filled with salty tears and screams.

He didn't do as she demanded and stop, no, instead he set for a fast disarray rhythm, thrusting into her core and tearing apart any fragment of her innocence, finding a good angle that would suffice to alleviate the knot into his lower navel.

"Fuck woman how can you be so fucking tight?" Sasuke grunted between harsh inhales of oxygen. Ignoring the piercing pain under his ribs from a hard blow that Hiruzen landed on him which was raising alarmingly and still seeping blood under his blouse, Sasuke clenched his jaw firmly, leaning forward to pin her hands on either side of her head and kept on sliding inside her even deeper and hitting her in a different angle gaining amplitude, and that one made her orbs fill with fresh tears and scream even worse than before, the position being searing.

"Ah! S-Stoo... No!" Sakura pleaded and cried to him but he didn't care. Sasuke knew that Leaf`s beloved Priestess felt immense pain; he could feel it clearly in her gestures and from the way her body enclosed around him tightly, increasing the friction between their pumping bodies and his pleasure increased but not hers.

She tried to push him out of her but she only made it worse for her state, for Sasuke forced himself inside her brutally as he speeded up his pace, getting the hang of the motion. "I won't stop even if you try to push me out of you, so in the end you'll only hurt worse." Sasuke sneered to the woman that trashed under him, unable to free herself. "Don't be stupid."

She did just as he said and stopped resisting him, after all, he was right, she didn't have enough strrenght to force to push him back nor fight him, so it was better to just give up and let him have his way with her.

She squeezed her jade orbs shut so that she won't have to live with the mental images of her body being violated and her intimacy being tarnished. The rose haired Priestess sunk her canines into her lower lip so hard that immediately glistening rivulets of blood moistened the tip of her tongue as she kept herself from crying out.

It was worse than anything she has ever felt before. Everything in her lower body hurt and stung like someone burned her with a torch.

He pierced through her skin without mercy and each time his hips slammed violently into her own he went deeper and deeper and his well-endowed manhood wasn't helping her.

She could feel every inch of his soft engorged skin piercing her, every pulsate of his body claiming her, every breath, every heartbeat, every grunt and grown entwined with her own muffled cries, everything.

Slowly she became wetter and slicker helping him glissade into her body easier than before, decreasing the agonizing pain for a bit, but it didn't subdue it completely, only lessening it to a more tolerating dull ache.

She could feel him swell inside her and his thrusts grew faster and harder and she knew that the raven haired Uchiha didn't have enough strength and energy to go much longer.

She just had to endure this for some more minutes and it will be over like a horrifying nightmare. Then she can pick up the pieces and concoct a plan to escape him.

Unbeknownst to her Sasuke was just as hurting, being chakra depleted and weaker than she would anticipate but he was good to hide it from the woman who he was fucking senseless without remorse, when in reality he was just as exhausted and hurting but this act… this was indescribably amazing!

The benumbing pleasure building up into his muscles surged him with a new wave of adrenaline and it was so _good_ ; this was one of the most exhilarating experiences that Sasuke ever had, the Priestess was so soft, so beautiful, so hot in the way she clasped around him and it only urged him to helplessly take her harder and faster and seek for that release that it was bubbling inside him.

More... Still not enough, the Uchiha mentally noticed. Sasuke summoned all his energy left and pounced into her harder as her body bounced and wiggled under him, hips scraping and molding while Sasuke kept on gliding deeper and deeper, assailed by her body that was getting more lubricated and stretched to accommodate him.

 _Still not enough–_

Something urged Sasuke to open up his onyx eyes that were getting glossy and unfocused by the hormones that were fermenting into his veins and pumped adrenaline through his limber muscles.

And when he did enfolded the thick veil of raven eyelashes to look at the emerald eyed Priestess, he definitely didn't anticipate what has just transpired in that moment; because instead of finding a countenance rippled by pain and disgrace, the Priestess' resplendent mien exuded a ghost of a smile that was both angelic and somehow mischievous and she did the most confusing thing.

She opened up her glossy lips that were fighting to subdue the sounds of both pleasure and pain and sang to him beyond a breeze. "Arrogance is blind… into the depths of a _lost_ eye..."

And just as she took away one breath from him, even before his body that was on the edge of backfiring, the Priestess has evanesced in a burst of flimsy powder, dissipating from under him as Sasuke fell on the damp grass, alone and _–_

Frustrated. Shocked.

 _What the flying–_

" _–_ Fuck... "Oh, the tempestuousness, the feral turbulence and the acerbic rage that spurred through his system in the moment when Sasuke`s aroused state dissipated in the cool wind that ruffled his raven locks, as he came to the sudden realization that Sakura has made a _fool_ out of him, tinted his obsidian pools into an abyss volcano of red ruby spritzing around the ring of his dilated pupils, spewing blood red flames like the den of the unleashed Devil.

The Priestess tricked him in a way that only a Genin would be fooled, namely she used a _Kage Bunshin_ to escape him and she did it without him to realize it, and now she absconded to Kami knows where, leaving him in the middle of a fucking forest while he was busy doing a _–_

Clone.

The shame, the embarrassment and the rabid fury was effervescent. Sasuke swore that he hasn't abhorred anyone in his entire life in the way he loathed that woman now.

He quickly got dressed after almost stumbling and tripping on his own feet, cursing her mentally for leaving him in that state, disappearing before he found release and leaving him with an ache on his still engorged member and having a considerable advantage since she had time to scram from him.

"I will fucking _kill_ her." Sasuke oathed before he vamoosed from that place and sunk deeper into the lust of vegetation, trying to find the imprint of her Chakra signature.

.

.

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* * *

 **A/N: Wow… I am absolutely speeches by the amount of feedback that I got from the very** _first_ **chapter of this story and it genuinely left me mouth agape because I totally** _wasn't_ **expecting it. To answer to** _hifi`s_ **question, this story is something spontaneous and I wrote it in few hours. I only fructified an idea that struck me without putting in too much effort.**

 **I had in mind the image of those beautiful** _Chinese_ _female warriors_ **who are versatile in sword fighting and very skilled in Kung Fu fighting and overlapped it on Sakura`s image, and then I thought about how would it be to turn it into a story?**

 **Now if you guys like this story so much, then I am** _willing_ **to continue it, even though I don't have in mind all details of the plot, but I have an overview of the succession of events.**

 **Now to answer to some questions, no, you guys know it all too well judged from my other stories that I do not have an inkling to make Sakura fall in love with Sasuke from the first time; you know that I like to take my time and build up the foundation of their eventual relationship and I will definitely preserve this pattern in this story. And of course, the concept I have in mind for this story will include many intense and sensual moments between Sasuke and Sakura.**

 **And no, in this story I will not make Sakura vulnerable; I want to outline the image of a warrior Priestess who is skilled in the arts of fighting and this airy image of her drove me to give her a wind chakra nature –I know that this is not her actual element, but it is for the plot. And of course, her spirit is not weak, just like Kakashi-sensei noticed.**

 **Sorry in advance for the grammar and spelling mistakes.**

 **Ah… I made Hanabi Neji`s fiancé because I plan on bringing up Ten Ten into the story. Even though this is a Sasuke and Sakura oriented story, I won`t neglect the other characters because they are needed for the flow of the storyline, hence my choice of infusing a Naruto and Hinata scene in this chapter –I apologize if it was boring, stale and not wanted.**

 **I absolutely love long descriptions and details, you guys know that all too well about me –well, I am referring to my faithful followers and readers who I salute and thank deeply for following this story too, so you will have to bear this with me because I cannot help myself; especially in the romantic scenes.**

 **Many many** _many_ **thanks to:**

 _mizzanimequeen_

 _Chinweoa_

 _juntaisuke_

 _Guest_

 _guest_

 _A Shadow Away_

 _Meemy-Chan_

 _Sandria Harris_

 _JakuraAngel_

 _hifi_

 _naelyn_

 _2lazy2login_

 _Guest_ **,**

 **For your beautiful words and for taking your time in sharing it with me how you feel about this story, you guys are awesome as always!**

 **To all my followers, I thank you for giving this story a chance.**

 **I hope that you liked this second chapter as well.**

 **Till next time…**


	3. Onyx Eyes

**::CHAPTER III – ONYX EYES::**

* * *

"I have to get as far from him as possible!" A gossamer shadow was hustling through the lush forest, panting and gasping as her chakra has been depleted almost entirely, but she knew that she must continue dashing through the thick maze of branches, otherwise she won't ever be able to evade her predator.

"Kakashi–sensei," Sakura landed clumsily on one of the thickest branches of an old oak tree, pausing briefly to catch her breath that was trapped somewhere between her throat and her heart which was thumping like a gong by the rush of adrenaline and exhaustion, surging along her spine, unfolding one of the scrolls that she carried as part of her shinobi arsenal. "I have to contact him as soon as possible."

Hatake Kakashi was her first sensei before Tsunade Senju has initiated her into the arts of a Priestess of Tea, a secret Ordeal of the most prodigious and prominent Priestess in all the Five Nations, whose purpose was to guard the Shrine of Mount Myoboku, just like the previous Priestesses did before they passed the honor to the youngest generations, and she had a close bond with the Copy Ninja.

Sakura pressed her canine onto the yielding skin of her thumb until she drew a droplet of blood, waving the familiar signs and she tapped her imprinted fingers on the scroll, mumbling the words ' _Kuchiyose no Jutsu'_ as a spiral of smoke enveloped a flimsy silhouette which popped up in a mini explosion.

"Katsuyu–sama," The emerald eyed Priestess addressed the slug that has been summoned through their blood contract from the Shikkotsu Forest. "I want you to deliver this message to Kakashi–sensei. It`s urgent."

"Sakura–chan," The melodic voice of the Slug grew worried as soon as she has seen the stains of dirt and blood smearing her clothes and the porcelain of her skin. "something terrible happened in the Village. Sarutobi Hiruzen has been assassinated and– "

"–Katsuysu–sama," Sakura interrupted the Slug as she felt tears amassing under her eyelids upon hearing the tragically news about the Hokage who has been iconic for the entire young generation of shinobi, understanding just how cruel her enemy was. "I am aware of that, but I am afraid that I don't have time to spare. I am being chased by the enemy and he is an _Uchiha_ ," She explained as the Slug immediately sent a vase of healing chakra through her fingers healing the most profound wounds seeing that Sakura didn't have the energy to heal herself. "this is why I must contact Kakashi–sensei and regroup. Please find him and deliver this message for me."

"Of course, dear," "will you be ok? Do you want me to contact Tsunade–sama?"

"Yes, please. Shishou needs to find out what happened here. We need to gather all the most powerful shinobi available to try and get the Village back from the clutches of the enemy."

"What about your mission to protect the– "

"–don't worry about this, Katsuyu–sama. As long as I am alive, _they_ are going to be safe into the depths of my Shrine. I will lure the enemy far away from it." This is the reason why Sakura wasn't speeding to her home; because it was not about the worth of the beautiful construction the real value of the Myoboky mountain, on the contrary, it lied dormant into the core of the mountain the thing that the Priestess had to protect from the enemy.

But true to her word, as long as Sakura remained safe and alive, then that _quintessence_ will continue to exist and protect everyone, but if it falls into the wrong hands, then it is all over. She cannot permit this, her Code and honor obliged her not to.

"All right, Sakura–dear, I will entrust this to your sensei and let you know about it."

"Arigatou gozaimasu, Katsuyu–sama." The Summoning animal has evanescented into the same dust of smoke, leaving Sakura behind to stand quickly and attempt to dash from the tree, throwing a quick perusal behind only to fall right back on her knees, almost losing balance and falling from the tree.

"Whoa!" Her hands quickly wrapped into the chemise of her kimono, folding it tight around her chest when a coercive horrifying sensation collided with her form and dissipated into her system, spreading like a cruel disease that tore her in half and ate her from inside out.

"No…" She immediately realized that it was her clever trick that she used returning back to her signalizing that her Jutsu has dispersed and Uchiha was probably hot on her heel, looking for her and probably going berserk in rage. The Shadow Clone returned every single memory right back to her, in a raucous wave of convoluted feelings and piercing bodily sensations, that left her breathless and made her knees jitter like bells.

All the feelings of her Shadow Clone reunited with her form and all those events were unfolding into her consciousness, so vivid and so frenetic on fast forward, rewinding every single brush of his fingertips smoothing along her body, every touch of his moist lips collapsing onto her body kissing and tasting her forcibly but unbelievably sensual and gentle, every teeter of her body squirming under him, every groan and the suppressed moans when the hotness that his own body evoked inside her transgressed the realm of logic, _everything_ was latched on her form, on her skin, lingering like a shadow chasing the fascination of light, never letting go and it was more than she could carry on her shoulders.

It was a fortunate coincidence that she wasn't able to use the Forbidden Jutsu of the Kage Bunshin and make _real clones,_ otherwise she would have lost her _purity_ to the Uchiha enemy who claimed it by force, without considering her feelings or her state, staining her with his hands that were soaked and rinsed into the innocent blood of their Hokage; she couldn't help the pang in her chest clasping like a claw, scaring her very heart.

"H-He… forced his way inside–" Oh Kami, she couldn't even fight back those burning tears when recollections of his slick sweltering hard body fused with the hotness of her own, responding to the most primal concupiscent desires in a way that she refused to acknowledge, but she couldn't help her body trembles and bursts into a flame when the Clone threw her in an illusion of sensations, all stirred by what she could have experienced with the Uchiha and it was _irresistible._

He was her enemy, the bloodthirst predator with those bloodcurdling savage desire to corrupt, dominate, conquer and tarnish everything that was ineffable, a man who was carved in penumbras and deceiving lights falling on his smoldering features, but even if his striking features were breathtakingly gorgeous, she couldn't be captivated by a _demon_ spreading his venom everywhere his onyx eyes landed.

This was _wrong_ and _sinful_ in every single way possible, and honestly, Sakura couldn't even interpret or depict which of the two calls was most poignant as it was interred into the sepultures of her core – the wanton need for such a ravishing man or the disgust for how he touched her.

Her mind was the one wailing and spilling fresh tears rolling like pearls along the outline of her chest as Sakura felt the need to wash herself, peel every inch of her skin and burn it just to escape the feeling of him touching her, even though it was only a mental image transmitted by a Clone; she took a taste of him on her tongue and it was indescribable.

A feeling that she wanted to cease away from her mind.

"You made a grave mistake Priestess," Her pulse froze into her vessels when his ominous baritone caressed her eardrums and made her skin jitter like jellyfish's veneer. Sakura whipped her head backwards assuming that he was right behind her but instead she found herself being pressed with her front on the ground and someone hovering above her. "and your last one."

"G-get off!" Sakura hissed to him not prepared to face the Uchiha male after everything that has happened. "You're crushing me!" She knew that he didn't it on purpose; his limber form was entirely glued to her and she felt suffocated. The edges and swells of his muscles were pressed heavily on her diaphanous form crushing her entirely.

"You should consider yourself lucky that I am not pulverizing you instead for the earlier stunt."

Tears were aligned with the rim of her eyelids as Sakura's lungs clasped violently while oxygen couldn't penetrate her lungs anymore and adding it to the fact that she was frazzled and her Chakra was effete, she felt like a dew drop crushed by the touch of a hot fingertip, frail and vulnerable.

Sasuke latched his fine–grained lips to the lobe of her ear rumbling darkly into the shells of her elastic cartilage, with his hot mint dissipating along her spine like an electric jolt and made the tatch of hair behind her ears prickle. "I admire your fighting spirit but the more you try to fly away little bird," Sakura's shoulders stiffened painfully as his words imbued her with an ominous resonance of his velvet voice. "then the more I want to _break_ your _innocen_ t little wings and crush your flight."

Suddenly, his yielding form wasn't pressing her into the cold damp soil as she felt his body weight dissipate from her back, but that sense of freedom was illusory because next thing she knows, Sasuke has hoisted her up having an iron hand encompassing the curve of her waist and roughly peeled her from the ground to confront him.

Immediately those eyes stood up above everything else, being a sweltering combination of bonfire and darkness, stealing the coruscation of a rough black sapphire gemstone, so indescribable beautiful but so incredibly unimpassioned.

"How," It took everything into her pride not to stammer the words at how piercing and glacial his entire form was in the way he was basically strangling her with that look in his onyx eyes. "did you find me? I saw it clearly that you," Her words decreased in intensity just like the lukewarm breeze that brushed past their forms. "were Chakra depleted." Which automatically implied that Sasuke shouldn't have been able to locate her with the available Chakra reserves that he had.

Instead of his luscious thin lips colliding into an elfin smirk like she had anticipated, Sasuke's visage remained taciturn and just as distant and impenetrable like the lush of twinkling stars that crept from behind the dissipating clouds. This man was quick into realizing that the time for jokes was over. If she was stubborn by nature, then he was inexorable. "You should know that you are one thousand years away from outsmarting _me_."

He saw confusion creasing her scintillating figure but Sasuke didn't let her reel in that state of mind for much longer when he clasped his hands around her wrists and flipped them so that her palms faced him and he silently urged her to look down and she did.

"T–This... I... No no– " Horror snuck under her skin when two purple glowing rings shone around her slender wrists and there was no need for any explanation. A multiplex pattern of a complex Jutsu was tattooed around her wrists producing the diaphanous afterglow of the purple light and this was the proof she needed to realize just what kind of shinobi this Uchiha was.

"No! This can't– When? "Although he wasn't obliged to please her and tell her what she demanded to known, something in the way determination was overthrown by the turbulence in her shimmering jadeite eyes imbued Sasuke with a mischievous pride basking in her defeated state when she realized how stupid she had been.

"From the very beginning when I trapped you into my arms," Sakura quickly reminded the events in her mind trying her best to cease away the mental images and the incredibly incandescent vivid sensations of his chiseled beauty smoothing along her body, feeling her mouth going dry." I placed this Jutsu on you to restrain your Chakra. "

Sakura quickly overlapped the events and her delicate eyebrows fell in confusion." but... I was already gone when you cast this Jutsu on me. "

"Yes, I am well aware of the fact that somewhere along the lines you used a substitution Jutsu to replace yourself with your clone and this trick albeit fine and demanding precise Chakra control, has drained you of energy but it doesn't matter because when your clone reunited with you, this Jutsu remained attached and followed your imprint like a shadow despite fact that you didn't use a real Bunshin. "

As much as her heart swelled at the fact that Uchiha was impressed by her fine Chakra manipulation and astute mind, his own skills were just as refined because this convoluted Jutsu was at least an A class one, unlike her smart usage a of a combination of two ordinary Genin level techniques. A Jutsu so complex that latched to the caster and followed its clone was only an unbeatable proof of how insanely skilled Uchiha was.

"So you were able to find me with only this? What is it? "

"A Chakra restraint which will makes sure that you won't be able to mold it as long as this Jutsu is active and not only you are useless as a shinobi now, but I can locate you everywhere you go since it is infused with my _own_ Chakra that resonates with you. Plus," This is when his eyes voltage-faced from the iciness and gleamed malice. "it does one more interesting thing which I am sure will make you think twice before you try to escape again or revolt. "

He brought his left hands between their brushing chests in a simple seal of focusing Chakra and a sudden violent electric jolt discharged along her spine and limbs. She felt it clearly and expected a blustery pain to lacerated her only–

"–Hehe," A totally unanticipated melodic giggle traipsing past her lips and it even startled Sakura because she quickly palmed her quivering lips to cover the jingle. Creased by a brisk grown, Sasuke repeated the motion only enhancing the effect of his Jutsu on his prey and the effect was prompt. "hahaha ha!"

Now had it been someone else in his place, that person's jaw would have hit the floor and the mouth would have been catching flies by now, but not Sasuke Uchiha, no, on the outside he was the embodiment of a chiseled sculpture emotionless and taciturn, but inwardly, his mind contorted in a dumb scowl and all that crossed his brain was _'what the flying fuck?'_

The Priestess who was supposed to be wailing in immense pain caused by electric jolts surging through her flimsy carcass, has thrown her head backwards and started to laugh in such an ebullient manner that made something quiver inside the pits of his chest for only a second before the shield around his heart quickly blocked it from leaking into places where emotions weren't allowed.

Why was she laughing at for Kami's sake? Was she mocking him?

It didn't look like she was being derisive because the palpitations of her chests rapid falls and rises, the mannerism of her purring and squirming like a kitten and the nightingale tonality of her sure voice were all so genuine and so real, hence impossible to fake.

Keeping all his effervescent frustration and the anger pooling into his system, Sasuke waited patiently for her to cool down, opting to just stare at her form like he was admiring the painting of a prodigious painter, praising its beauty. Something about this tiffany looking woman was... Sasuke didn't even have a name for what she enshrined in the way she seemed to make the entire place glow with her scintillating presence because he has never seen her happy before, and this all intrigued him.

Sasuke loathed to wander through unfamiliar passageways or swim in dark waters without having a pivot under his feet. He hated to deal with unknown because not predicting the opponent's move made him fragile and vulnerable and Kami forbids him to be caught exposed, but her... He didn't know what was the deal with this kunoichi who has worshiped as a Goddess and nor did he foiund the missives to limn that smile or her laughter.

And it annoyed him more than her brazen warrior attitude. Stupidly enough, Sasuke preferred her to be apprehensive and feisty with her fierce determination, rather than so exposed and apparently inoffensive.

When Sakura calmed her trembling laughter feeling her entire form being infused with a warm sensation caused by the unexpected feeling that asked her system, she had crystalline tears pricking into the corners of her orbs.

 _What was that sensation?_ Was Sasuke making fun of her in his one distorted way? She would put it past him to come up with something so pleasurable lethal but it didn't stutter his style at all.

Plus, even if he was skilled enough to veil it from her, she could see confusion swirling into those amazing onyx eyes. "I-it... _tickles_." She answered to his silent question finding it shockingly that she depicted the exact emotion from reading carefully into his hues.

And that stunned Sasuke more than the source of her enthusiasm. His phlegmatic stuck–up attitude which was impossible to read was one of Sasuke's finest weapons and the unmitigated idea of someone being proficient enough to read him was alarming.

Did she just say–

"–what?" He hissed before he could stop himself while inching closer to her as he found himself drowning into the maze of her eyes, realizing it for the first time that there was a diaphanous crown encircling her viridian irises which had a gold lucent in the moonlight when she poured feelings into her eyes; it wasn't like this Priestess was hard to read, on the contrary, her orbs were like two unfold scrolls but it was the moisture of infinite emotions swimming inside the thing that made those emerald acreage orbs so intricate and so complex.

Sakura, quickly coming down from the tickles that started to dissipate as Sasuke's dark chocolate inflection took a sharper tune than a sword's tip, gulped once to alleviate a lump in her throat, wetting her lips with the tip of her tongue. "What you just did... it tickles."

And not just some tickle like a fur brushing over her toes no, that feeling was enveloping her entire body in a swarm of butterflies tickling and tingling every cell of her body and made her roar to a scorching fire, similar to how she would describe to feel alive, a concept imminently imbecile since someone as dark and lifeless as this taciturn all of the Uchiha wasn't capable of making anyone remotely happy or alive since he didn't have the notion of something like this.

His Jutsu was tickling her instead of hurting her? Now this is something that Sasuke hasn't anticipated before but holy damn it is clearly not something that he will repeat in the future. His intelligent mind quickly came up with the explanation: it was her wind Chakra the one to interfere with his lightning nature because even though he was able to block its flow, he couldn't block her inner Chakra nature.

Basically her very quintessence was neutralizing his lightning affinity and it was not like he will burn her with his fire nature affinity now...

 _What a surprise._ She was a lucky one this is for sure. "Hn." Sasuke brushed the topic off as it annoyed him more than he was willing to admit it himself, so he tucked on her hand twisting it so as to make her volte–face from him, turning her in his arms with her back on his chest and immediately his hands slant under her knees uplifting her into his arms, bridal style.

"Hey, what are you–"

Before she had the chance to protest and attempt to wobble and escape his grip, Sasuke's horse galloped back to his owner appearing from nowhere in all its glorious dark beauty and immediately her instinct upon seeing the menacing race of the menacing animal was to turn around and face Sasuke's sharp profile but he was only staring straight ahead as the horse stopped right in front of him.

Swiftly and smoothly, Sasuke unglued his heels from the ground and jumped on the back of the raven animal, with Sakura crawling into his chest, somehow afraid that he will drop her down but he didn't in fact, his injuries and Chakra depletion did less to nothing to alter his mobility and grace. He was as limber as always.

Her legs automatically straddled the horse and the cleft in the middle of her kimono unraveled a set of feminine slim legs, whose opaline skin collided with the raven of the animal in a very erotic manner. Two sturdy arms immediately encompassed her form as Sasuke slide his clasped fists into the loop of the reins and trapped her between the leather wires and his chiseled chest, bringing her flush into his form.

Even if she tried to scurry far away from him and from touching him, she could not because she was dead scared not to fall from the lithe horse. The Uchiha wasted no time in cantering the horse as it galloped at top speed through the lavish forest and she immediately recognized the way – they were heading back to the Hidden Leaf.

Not able to withstand that abundant silence that turned into a sinister face of the darkness surrounding and haunting her Sakura broke the silence talking softer than the whirling got a leaf into the wind. "What's your name?" She had no idea of why was she asking him this, but the male behind her didn't have any sort of reaction and she knew it that he won't respond.

"It's common courtesy to introduce yourself first before asking for someone's name." Sakura turned her head over her shoulder to gaze in surprise at the man behind her and his rather blasé response, mentally cursing herself for the stupidity for she hasn't realized how close they were.

Her ivory cheek grazed on his masculine jaw, feeling how incredibly soft his skin was for such a calloused man but then again his physiology was in a heavy contradiction with how his soul was and the wise saying of the inner mirroring the physical appearance was not applying to him.

He was a decadent angel playing the decadent tango of the devil, and she found his obsidian orbs set straight ahead not once dipping down to acknowledge her. And of course, she didn't miss the arrogance in his cynical retort and this was making Sakura's innards twist in anger. His attitude was despicable.

Giving someone his name meant eschewing a part of the power that he had over someone else and this was a privilege that he won't grant to her. Why was she so adamant in knowing his name? She was no one important to him, so why would he become familiar with her?

 _Annoying._

"Are you scared to form a _bond_ with your prisoner?" This time, Sakura's implacable perception didn't miss the way his entire limber form tensed ever so slightly and the horse must have felt it too because it picked up the pace as the wind was whipping their faces blowing through their clothes and hair. "I only ask for a name. I know that you are an Uchiha," She continued ALTHOUGH Sakura could clearly sense a sudden spike in that menacing aura surrounding the stoic man but if he had the strength to overpower her then Sakura had another equally powerful weapon to fight him back–

 _Words._

If she could penetrate his mind and dig into the core of his most secluded corners, then his body will not be able to forbear the temptation of her spellbound in and it will leave him vulnerable. "but I don't know your given name." She was a tad curious as in how such a man would be called.

Again, she dared to peep at his sharp profile that was enhanced by the silvery diamond blue moonlight as it collided with his face, seeing that Uchiha kept his orbs focused straight ahead and just like him, she found herself lingering on those bottomless obsidian jewels more than necessary and equally intrigued –what was he thinking about so absorbed?

He was so young and yet his orbs shone with vast experience –mostly encarved in blood– and it seemed that he had lived for a hundred years.

Then, right before she had the chance to glimmer, Sasuke tilted his head inching closer to her and breathed on her face in a way that in another context would have made her tremble and not in fright. "Tell me yours first."

Of course, Sakura forgot that there were few who learned her real name but this was the custom for the women who were entitled the privilege of guarding the Shrine and the immeasurable treasures enshrined deep into its contingents not to disclose their names to the others.

She averted her emerald orbs from him seeing that she couldn't withstand that look and their proximity and looked at her hands that were rafting in her lap. Stupidly enough, Sasuke has elicited one sole trivia that made her rather buoyant and serene existence sad and depressing –she was the people's iconic figure but she was very lonely.

And the fact that she didn't have someone to call her name was enriching the melancholic state. It wasn't like she regretted becoming the Priestess of Tea, but it would be nice to have someone to be more familiar with her. Of course, she didn't want this man to be acquainted with her, hell no!

It was only the feeling that he evoked in her memory. The thing that made her pout and not respond. "Albeit," She felt his sharp chin press on her shoulder as Sasuke leaned forward to whisper into her ear. "it doesn't interest me in the slightest to get familiar with you."

He was right and neither did she wanted to get cozy with him. The rest of the ride she didn't try to coax him into making conversation. She was absolutely exhausted, the feeling of not being able to use Chakra worn her out, she couldn't heal the rest of the more superficial wounds that hurt and she didn't know whether her missive reached Kakashi or not.

What if he fell prisoner to the enemy? Then they will realize the connection between Sakura and the other shinobi.

.

.

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* * *

It was almost dusk when they galloped back to the main streets of the Hidden Leaf and immediately Sakura`s heart welled in the same desolation that lingered among those people as curious eyes gathered to windows of their shops or homes to peep at the two people riding as the vista of them was quite memorable.

Sasuke stopped his horse right in the middle of a small crowd of civilains and informed them sternly but shortly as his tone was so much colder than the one he used to talk to the Priestess and that made her and the people`s spines shudder and freeze by the iciness. "This... Is what you call your source of you strength," Understanding exactly what his intention was, Sakura tried to avert her face from the amassed crowd but it was in vain since Sasuke`s hold around her form was an impenetrable rope of steel and iron. "she is the Priestess of Tea."

Clamor erupted among the Village as people of all the ages started to realize just who exactly fell prey in the hands of the enemy and their palpable dread and confusion hit Sakura like a hurricane rolling along her entire system in agonizing ripples. "A spiritual leader who is afraid to even come amidst you to listen to your problems and see for herself what it has to be seen, instead of waiting for everything to come to her freely. This concept of power is _disgusting_ by default."

She couldn't cry at the hypocrisy of his words, she couldn't pretty much do anything rather than force herself not to break when the puppy orbs of the stunned small children staring back at her with mild fascination and confusion met her jadeite orbs as she peeped at them from under the veil of silky hair cascading along her temples.

But it stung like a venomous snake`s bite infusing the lethal poison into her system and benumbing her from all the senses and perception and it became unbearable to withstand that tumult of sadness, depression and anger arising into the air from the village who has always been flamboyant and effervescent.

She couldn't recognize the face of it anymore as it bore the stigma of their violent clash. The ruins of the houses, the smoke and ashes dusted on the streets, the people squirming to repair the damage, the discomfiture that she felt while being reduced to something this pathetic, it was unbearable; she felt like someone has punched her in the chest and cut the air supply.

Without wasting too much time in trying to make his point clear since his message was more than received by the people, Sasuke pressed his heel into the side of his horse after departing with a very serious word of what he probably deemed as advice. "Find the strength into your hearts instead of waiting for it to fall down from the… _Heavens_." Revolt was visible in his dark tone and he was clearly suppressing his escalading anger that bubbled inside his chest. Without sparing any other glances behind as the hushed whispers of the stunned crowd caressed their eardrums, Sasuke galloped straight to the old Uchiha compound which was at the outskirts of the Village.

Sakura was biting her lip in shame not actually believing how Sasuke was besmirching the notion of the spiritual leader –the Priestess. Those faces of the sullen people, the sadness and despair into those hollow orbs, the stained hands and the ashes dusted figures… what happened to the smiles? Who swallowed all the light? Because that was hell with no hope. What this Uchiha`s doing? The people`s optimism perished like rotten leaves in the autumn. She won't cry. She was hurt, scared and in desperate need to sleep and eat, but Sakura would rather die than beg or ask Sasuke for something.

She felt his hold on her waver a bit and she considered whether to summon the last power and escape or not, but it was impossible. He had his men on guard at the borders of the Village, so she won't make it far and people already saw her so she couldn't go inconspicuously. Sasuke made sure of that. Plus, his Jutsu cast on her made every escape attempt become a mirage.

His harsh grunts and pants attracted her attention. Sakura felt warm liquid brushing her hip bone and she peeped on her left side. The snow white silk of her kimono printed with blood but it wasn't hers. It was Sasuke's. He was much more injured than she first thought.

For a moment… just a glimpse... She felt a pang in her chest and need to help him burst inside her system, but this man was just as empty as his heart was –similar to a dessert without rain. Beautiful. Majestic, but unable to sustain life.

Her eyelids felt heavy and they fluttering threatening to fall, but Sakura fought the tremendous exhaustion to remain awake. They were heading to the Uchiha compound; she recognized the place. She had seen it when she was a child and trained with her senseis.

The atmosphere was gravestone the streets were grieving and the memoirs of the carnage still ebbed the imprint of the suffocating air. It was heavy, thick, dusty and filled with the stench of despair and depression, just like it remained trapped in time.

This was the most depressing place she has ever seen. The solitude tore her chest and crawl into her heart, eating her alive and the Priestess felt the need to fall down pulled by iron wings on the ground and cry for no reason.

Sasuke was taking her there from all the places? What a proper place for someone so corrupt and blinded by retribution. He maneuvered to the streets like a ghost caressing the horizon, knowing them from memories reciting the familiar steps from the oasis of reprised memories.

Sakura felt a shift in his aura. Something churned inside him she felt it on spiritual level as she was accustomed with raiding auras. Melancholy? Sadness? Masked love? Was he inwardly affected by seeing his former hometown? They went to a very coquettish big mansion and despite the dust of time weeping and brushing past it as a clear sign of once belonging to someone healthy, it was in a very good condition, but the darkness. The _emptiness._

The silence and loneliness pounced and scratched the strings of her heart a broken violin begging to be set free. The horse stopped in front of the porch and Sasuke slide down from the animal as Sakura didn't miss the sloppy stumble but before she could dwell on the matter for too much, Sasuke gripped her hand and pulled her down. He caught her firmly in his arms before she entertained the idea to escape him.

She stared at the front door, cringing to the breeze of an abnormally hot wind that erupted from the inside when Sasuke slide the door open, fanning over their faces. She was hesitant to enter that pitch darkness and she wanted to whirl on her heel and ru–

"–move." She heard him gnash his teeth and snarl harshly at her pushing her back and making her stumble inside almost ripping on the front porch. Sakura coughed violently when the dust rose in fine sewed nets spreading around like spiders` webs.

This place has been deserted for more than a decade. No wonder that it was eerie and dusty and preserved everything untouched. They stood like this in the middle of the living room when she heard their breaths ragged and husky echoing through the bizarre silence.

The hair at her dreams pickled her cold sweat rolled under her clothes and she was even afraid to blink or turn around. "Enjoying the view?" Sasuke's husky voice was the first thing she heard and it tickled her eardrums. No matter how smooth his tune was it was so frozen like the very Devil was haunting the place; it was so sinister and cold that it peeled her soul from its sepulture.

Sakura attempted to take a step front and somehow evade that sinister tension but his fingers dug into the skin of her for arms as he press her back into his chiseled chest hissing into her floral scented long hair. "So much for a _temple_ worth of a Priestess, isn't it?"

"What… is this place? " The emerald eyed Priestess trailed as Sasuke`s grip tightened and she tried to shriek away but he forcibly kept her steady. She saw the difference in mannerism that her clone brought to her and now Sasuke showed no sign of that grace that he kept confined, no, now he was ruthless and barbaric.

"This place... is my old _home_. Don't you see the grandiose welcome sign? "She shuddered as her orbs traveled through the dark stained windows and the moon reflected a blood light inside forming a pool of claret and silver encircling their feet.

It was scary, nebulous, villainous and she hated that she felt every tear freeze in her eyes as so her body fought to preserve the very light inside and not give up on life.

Everything about that house was depressing and morbid; so lifeless and lacking positive energy it was crushing the very spirit. But unlike her, Sasuke seemed to blend into those phantoms. "This is what has been left from my family Priestess. Look carefully around and see for yourself," Somehow she obeyed his glacial tone and took a weary glance around her, gulping once hard and louder than she intended. "what kind of darkness lies..."

 _In my eyes–_

"–Why have you brought me here? I can't be here, I have to go back to my–"

He didn't catch the slip of her tongue and forcibly spun her in his arms and roughly had her face him. Sasuke took full fist of her luscious hair, while his other arm kept her waist wrapped in an iron grip, hissing and spritzing acid in her face. Their eyes collided into the waltz of the Devil and Sakura felt her mind being shattered like a stone tossed into glass breaking it in million pieces which reflected her feelings.

"–I am not obliged to respond to your petty demands nor justify myself. Don't mistake me for those disoriented villagers for I know it all too well what path I have to follow. You are going to stay here because _I_ want you to. Any objections you might have," He dipped his head almost tapping his lips on hers, letting her feel the bouquet of his masculine scent and his mint. " keep them to yourself because I have no desire to listen."

That hyperborean laconic attitude, the frore laceration of his trenchant black sapphire eyes, his stern steel attitude and the manner of encompassing his heart in a mantle of a suffocating darkness made blood freeze in her veins. It was insupportable to stare into his eyes there were slashes through her soul and mind.

Sakura inhaled sharply once, slightly trembling in his arms. The Uchiha`s onyx eyes were seeing right though her; they were livid and disdain was imbuing inside; he was colder than a storm despite the warmth of his chiseled form his eyes were frozen and his soul a nebula. This man... Was the typification of darkness.

"W–what," She licked her lips with a brisk flicker of her rosy tongue and that motion made Sasuke`s orbs shuffle to her mouth out of his own accord. "will you do to me? Are you going to kill me?" It was a stupid question since he brought her here instead of disposing of her right into the forest and get over with.

He didn't answer to her inquiry, instead Sasuke kept on staring intently at her, taking every answer form the essence of her emerald eyes. She couldn't abscond that stare anymore. He inched even closer until she almost closed her eyes somehow thinking that he will kiss her but he didn't.

Instead, he simmered through the words that he spat at her. "Nothing would make me any happier," His hold on her strengthened as he almost crush her into his body and she let out a silent yelp eschewing her head.

His lips brushed her earlobe as her nose glued into the junction of his shoulder evading his words that sliced through her core. "but no. To prove my point, I need you alive."

It didn't mean relief to her. His words weren't soothing; they were acquisitive and selfish. She grew scared of what he might do to her while he kept her in this God forsake place than a kill her. "Then… am I your prisoner?"

Something flickered into his tone because his aura turned playful as Sasuke cooked his head to stare at her and the tip of his nose brushed over her jaw. She shuddered involuntarily and Heather it was fear or something else she didn't know but a bolt coursed through her spine.

She tried to shriek away but his grip on her was adamantine. "Why," His husky inflection was derisive and dark. "would you rather be something _else_?"

"Never!" Sakura lamented and tried her best not to wiggle too much and brush her skin against his as she was basically molded into his sculpted form enough to feel his body warmth diffusing into her trembling form. The house was an immense icicle, cold and unfriendly and she as freezing. A light rain was drumming against the windows. "No need to remind me what kind of brute you are."

She meant forcing himself on her. Good thing that he didn't have the chance to deflower her because her clone wasn't a real one, because she didn't have the Chakra to attempt the forbidden Jutsu otherwise she would have shared the same experience as her clone. "Hn. I couldn't care less about what you think about me."

Sasuke simply let go of her abruptly and she almost took steps back rubbing her for arm. He fine–combed his raven locks and sighed heavily in sheer exasperation, turning his back on her and traipsing to the door. "W-Where are you going?" Sakura burst to him before she could stop herself. She had to take advantage of his absence and run away. But at the same time she didn't want to stay there alone. The shadows and the way the dim light and penumbra fell of the furniture enhanced the eerie atmosphere and it was as sinister and ominous and she grew scared to even wink of breathe normally there.

Sasuke halt in the door for a moment, seeming to be restraining himself not to kill her on the spot, snarling. "Why do you care?"

"You... Are leaving me _here_?" If only she could see the sinister smirk colliding with his lips as he felt her dread percolating from her pores. Her voice was quivering and her determination was quivering while her warrior spirit threatened to fade away. "Alone?"

"Don't eve entertain the idea of running away from here." He told and had a complete flip of attitude that puzzled her again. He seemed stoic and unemotional and lackadaisical unlike few moment ago when she swore that he wanted to leash at her and slice her with a snap of his sword. "The chakra bracelets around your wrists will never let you run away without me knowing where you are. You know it."

Oh dear Kami-sama, the sheer idea of having a part of the Uchiha with her was worse than having a guillotine hanging over her head. She felt like peeling her flesh with her teeth but resisted against it. "Wherever you are," His voice was filled with and so much darkness that she felt it physically strangle her. "I will know. This is why you can't ever escape me, Priestess. Wherever you go, I will follow right back."

What really annoyed Sasuke was the fact that this woman was talking too damn much, hence made him talk more than few laconic words and act way of out character. Why was he responding to her anyway?

Sakura felt her hues fill with tears and for the first time she didn't think she could fight them back. This was so bad. She quickly realized that she couldn't break those restraints without her Chakra. Sasuke said nothing as he took her in breathing that came in ragged short inhales and exhales, basking on her defeated state of mind. He knew what was surging through her mind and he loved every bit of her broken state.

"Hn." With that, he whirled on his heel and shut the door, locking it behind him leaving her alone in there. The moment his steps mixed with the heavy droplets of rain that pounded like a broken harp into the windows, Sakura dropped on her knees crying softly with her wrists folding in for lap.

The bracelets were mockingly glowing with a purple radiance around her princess hands. The shade was diaphanous and had a peculiar lucent, signaling that his Chakra kept her restrained and even though it was pleasant for the eye and rather exquisite as in a royal color, it was so cold. So distant and so unforgiving.

Yes she might be safe for no, but who knew what this man's intention was. She saw the state of the village; there was relinquishment in the people's hearts -the ones that once filled with joy and fortitude now stood just as apathetic and lacking energy like she felt. "What do I do now? I have to get out of here."

Her eyelids were heavy and sprinkled with exhaustion. She lowered her form on the floor and put her cheek on her palm closing her eyes. She was hurt and didn't have Chakra to heal herself but she was too tired to care and plus her Slug has managed to give her a bit of Healing chakra enough to close the deepest wounds, hence saving her life.

.

.

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* * *

He was a walking corpse and the pain that installed into the pits of his body was out of that world, but he was too stubborn to ask for help. He dragged his lithe silhouette along the maze of circular halls up to the Hokage`s Office, not sparing anyone who passed him by any glance, continuing to keep his onyx orbs glued to a faraway spot in the distance, his handsome mien being creased by a sinister frown, but it was more like pain twisting his features rather than disdain.

Sasuke simply had to get out of there, of that house, of that cursed land that elicited unwanted painful memories about his beloved family, and every single shadow of the raindrops that washed away all those tears, the blood, the screams and the sadness were ebbed into every step he took; he wanted _out._

The last standing Uchiha fine-combed a hand through the lush of his silky tendrils of hair, pulling the spikes backwards as they rolled back on his forehead in a sexy disheveled manner, but it was a mannerism that signalized just how much was he fighting to keep his mind sane and not lose himself into the pool of darkness growing inside his chest.

Albeit… if he could come to terms with the memories of his deceased family that his old home evoked, Sasuke could definitely not withstand any more of her presence, deciding to leave the hell out of that place before he did something way more stupid than bringing her with him. But he had no choice; that Priestess was scheming and astute and foolish enough to oppose him, so he had to constantly be vigilant in her presence and keep a close eye on her.

Plus, if he forced her to live with him, then his purpose of showing it to the world that he wasn't afraid to stain the very epitome of _innocence_ and not regret it would be clear and resolute. What Sasuke didn't want, was the things that she arouse inside him; he wasn't stupid and contrary to popular belief, contrary to what _he_ might personally think, Sasuke _wasn't_ a socially retarded autistic male with no concept over  feelings, on no.

Not in the bit.

He knew exactly _how_ potent those bonds were and this is the reason why he always raised the shield around his heart and never, under no circumstance, will he ever allow someone to get close to that helpless little organ that served for pumping blood and keep him alive – his heart.

It never brought anything good to anyone to relinquish into those feelings.

But goddamn it, he simply couldn't chase away the feeling of her opaline skin glowing under the caress of the moonlight trembling under his fingertips, the softness that put any red rose into shame sliding under his palm, the feminine contours of her siren form molding so fittingly under his touch, that natural response of her muscles wrapping around him when he slide inside her –it was the most magnetizing experience that Sasuke has ever had and honestly it burned his goddamn mind.

"Damn her all to Hell and forth…" The obsidian-eyed Uchiha kept on hissing explicit curses, trying to focus on his hate in order to associate the iconic image of the Priestess with the pureness of an orchard of cherry blossom trees and snow, giggling under him so intimately and so erotically, instead, he scowled deeper when he saw a blob of maroon hair and a pair of matching orbs hidden by narrow lenses as they stared right into his own, staring at him.

"Sasuke," Said Uchiha stopped in his track to glare daggers at his Sound companion when she stood in the doorway of the former Hokage`s office door, with a hand latched on her hipbone that she intentionally pushed forward in a cocky manner, faking determination when in reality everyone knew that wanton desires formed into her body when she set her hues on him. "where have you been? We needed you here, while you were in the forests chasing ghosts."

Did she just _scold_ him? "Karin," Sasuke was positive that the way his yielding lips hissed her name had nothing to do with the throbbing injury on his left side. "step aside." He was doing his best not to snap and curse and be impolite with his comrades, even though they annoyed the fuck out of him and this woman was getting on his late nerves.

She did just as he instructed and he pressed his hand on the knob twisting it, not bothering to answer, thinking about which cretin will he be facing with behind the door when she screeched into his ear nearly making him go deaf. "Are you hurt? Oh my, God, you`re bleeding! Let me take a lo–"

He merely rolled his obsidian orbs and pushed the door open wide with Karin trailing right behind him like she was his guardian angel and the first thing that Sasuke did was to grimace when he came eye to eye with a pair of light azurite pair and an equally obstreperous tune. "Teme, what the fuck man!" Naruto dashed from the chair behind the large office desk, untangling his feet that were crisscrossed on it and marched to the raven haired Uchiha, bristling in his face. "Where have you been, I have been dead worried for ya!"

"Worried? Do I look _that_ helpless in your eyes Naruto for you to fear for my… well–being?" Just the concept of someone being worried that he might bump into trouble was so alien for Sasuke; the last person who he would basket into the feeling of being expected home by, was his mother but the exquisite Mikoto was now just another sepia page in his old family album and nothing more but a caressed whisper in the wind; a sand crystal brushing past his knuckles and nothing more.

Naruto was always the one to exaggerate. Just like now. "Wow, what is that, did she slice you in half?!" He pointed at the visible dark spot of blood seeping from his injury that ebbed into his clothes, but again Sasuke only grimaced down to him.

"Hn. This is nothing. I was just being a little careless."

" _You_ being careless?! The hell man?" The formidable shinobi whose skills were on par with his has _no_ such notion as being inattentive in his vocabulary, which only meant that something more disturbing happened but Uchiha refused to talk about this; and this pissed Naruto off badly – the fact that he always had to force the words out of Sasuke`s laconic mouth or beat the hell out of his ass and drag them out forcibly.

Sasuke walked past the golden haired man, glaring at the pile of tossed files and scrolls that were scattered on the office desk; paperwork who were in the custody of their former Hokage now stood there forgotten as the said male was no more, waiting for someone to take care of them.

The Uchiha felt his temples pound even worse and Naruto was still moving his mouth. "Just shut up dobe, I am in no mood to listen to your blabbering. Save it for later or better, don't nag me about it, it`s so damn annoying."

" _Oi_ Teme, I am all worried for your ass and you are being such an inconsiderate bastard again! Shame on you!" The blonde stomped back to the Uchiha who threw his form on the chair, looking at a random file in front of him, trying his best to ignore both Karin and Naruto, but of course, with the temper of those two supposed Uzumaki _relatives_ the odds were never in his favor.

"Plus, did you take a look outside to see all those people? The Village is pretty much a mess, dattebayou!"

Cocking his head to look past Naruto`s chiseled shoulders, Sasuke narrowed his orbs at Karin who quickly to the meaning and padded to him, seemingly offended by his silent request but complied nonetheless.

She came to halt beside him, unrolling the sleeve of her blouse and held her hand that was tattooed with denture imprints all along the soft skin, and she nearly moaned when Sasuke wrapped his digits around her arm and pressed his canines down to suckle on her healing chakra.

That was beyond disgusting every time he did it, but he had no other choice; if he let the wound infect, then his life could be in danger and this was not what he wanted. Karin has bit her lower lip to muffle the sounds that welled from her chest as both pain and pleasure coursed through her, while Naruto stared at the pair in mild shock, disgust, and disbelief.

The scene was pretty much... Disturbing for the lack of better words and so so _so_ wrong but he couldn't quite figure it why was it so bothersome but it was.

Sasuke on the other hand, felt his mind explode, because instead of focusing on important matters like the course of events and his plans, there he was comparing Karin`s taste of blood mixed with her chakra to _the Priestess_ ` delicious fruity infused taste and this riled him up with anger even more.

He let go of Karin`s hand harshly when he felt that this was enough to close that wound, without even mumbling a single 'thank you' in return like she knew that he won`t, scowling even deeper than normal and with the swelled side of his palm, he whipped his lips in sheer disgust.

Silently, the gesture both offended and hurt Karin but she kept the wails for herself, instead, she settled to scoff at him and curse him under her breath. The Uchiha didn't even pay attention to her, pretty much because Naruto resumed his lectures. "We threw all the shinobi in jails just like you ordered but who is gonna take care of the Village now?! You said that this is the place that we are going to settle down, so if you don't want to turn this into another Oto, then we need a freaking… _Hokage_!"

 _Hm, true that._

"This is so fucked up man and so wrong, I am sure that even _you_ can see it! Don't you care in the bit that we are _hurting_ those people?" In his mind, there played those eyes of hers; Hinata`s hues and they were reeling in grief and despondency and Naruto was hardly a stoic sadist. The people`s hearts were something that had a heavy impact on him as he was a convinced pacifist, but he chose to remain by his best friend`s side, believing that together they could bring up peace, even though he was hardly agreeing with Sasuke`s extreme methods.

So far, the Villages that they have raided only had leaders who were either avid of power, bloodthirsty maniacs, sadistic bastards who only tortured the civilians and manipulated their shinobi into becoming their puppets, exactly like Otogakure no Sato was.

So they simply returned the freedom to those villages by killing the Leaders so that people could choose someone from them who they deemed fit to be a leader and not someone who snatched that position from the others by force.

"What's the matter Naruto have you grown cold on your feet or have you forgotten what they did to you and your family? Have you forgotten how they made your mother a vessel for a monster? How have you forgotten how your own parents were forced to seal the Kyuubi in their own child in lieu for the own safety? Just how many lives do you want to be sacrifice like this for the sake of the village?

Why so much commitment for something so conceptual? There is no such thing as a village and the Will of Fire, this is just a derisive trickery for the higher ups to cover their selfish ambitions." Karin, who has sensed the growing upcoming heated argument, scurried out of the room not wanting to be involved in that business. She wasn't there to think or make decisions, she was simply following Sasuke because… well because he freed her from Orochimaru and she had feelings for him.

Hoping that maybe, just maybe… he might return them.

"Don't be stupid Teme!" Naruto slammed his hands against the hard surface of the desk, making some scrolls and pens roll down the floor with a click. "What have we been doing instead of trying to find a way to peace? We conquered it all, burnt everything from the ground and inflicted more pain and fear than any other of their enemies until we have become famous as a fearsome savage organization, which is of Akatsuki`s caliber! What does it do with real peace? How will this put an end to everything that's being unfair in the world?! To all the pain?"

"It's about changing the current ordeal Naruto." If there was anything that absolutely drove Naruto insane was Sasuke`s composed self and how he would never react when the other was getting angry out of his mind, which only made them lose their temper entirely.

"Don't you see that this current shinobi system is entirely fucked up? Of course that we had to take the leaders down and destroy their feud so that people could build up and rethink the entire system form the very foundation. Let them see that basically anyone can come and pulverize their beloved bonds and village. The fact that a group of shinobi like us can crush such an intricate organized system like a village only proves how inefficient it is. I want to change this for them the and not let the history repeat itself once more.

If you understand this then you will support me and if you don't then think for yourself and think about your parents and what has this Village done for you when you were a just a child. The system was supposed to _protect_ you but what did they do in return? Cursed you for your monster abhorred you for saving their assets by sacrificing your family and broke the promise that they made to your mother and father. Damned you and viewed you like a monster, like a curse and like a stranger."

"And what's about the other people in the Village who had nothing to do with the miseries of the shinobi system? If the higher ups are to blame for it, then we pretty much solved the problem and took our revenge when we imprisoned them, but what about the innocent people? Shouldn't we have tried to compromise? Make them hear what we have to say instead of using violence?"

"Compromise? Make us listen to our ideology? Don't be a fool, dobe." Naruto wasn't being fooled by that derisive ironic smirk blooming on Sasuke`s firm lips, for he could see the way his tongue dripped of venom when he recalled the events.

"My brother tried to use words and look what good it did to him. My family is no more they are extinct and pretty much forgotten. And the other shows who silently accepted for this nonsense to perpetuate thorugh every generation are equally guilty because they support this wrong system and even fight for it. I don't blame them for their beliefs, I only fight against their stupidity. They are blind and stupid and this is why they don't deserve to take the decisions."

"Then who does? _Us_? We are trying to enforce our own belief by force and thus neither of us will ever be acknowledged as the next Hokage. Remember, the one who is recognized by the others becomes Hokage and not the other way around. A leader who doesn't have the society 's support is a virtual leader. A puppeteer or a tyrant, but never a true Kage and a hero. You have to win their hearts with love and honesty and not use and manipulate the darkness in their hearts and take advantage of their fear, Teme."

What was there that Sasuke wasn't getting because the Uzumaki had no idea of why was it so hard to understand that if they wanted to make a change for the better, then they should stop trying to show the people their weapons and savage nature first and then try to compromise, no they should try and talk to them and convince them to cooperate.

Words were the only way to get to know one`s convictions and make them open up, but Sasuke thought exactly the contrary –that people will _never_ be able to understand each other and acquire a common goal by themselves, because as long as there will be people with far more skill than the others and more power, then ambitions to take over and dominate will be a natural consequence.

"Enough of this bullshit. I am not having this conversation with someone with your naivety, Naruto. You will never understand how the portrait of a real leader should look like pretty much because as admirable your noble goal is, you are still pretty much one naive idiot."

"You know that I consider you my brother Sasuke," It was quite funny to see Naruto`s whiskered unserious goofy face turn into a serious mimic. "and I am going to support you one hundred percent. You are not alone or in the darkness anymore, not when you have us, me and the rest of our crazy gang by your side, but as a friend, I am more than entitled and even obliged to knock some sense into that thick skull of yours."

"What the fuck are you talking about, you knucklehead?" Sasuke didn't like that tone of Naruto because not only it didn't suit him but he always found a stupid way to put some words into his mind that shouldn't be there, to begin with, but as much as they were stupid, they stuck to him and this annoyed him.

No one told Sasuke what to do. He won't allow himself to be _manipulated_ by anyone else than his own preconceptions.

"That as much as a genius you are bastard, you are far too lost into the darkness and this makes you completely _blind_. And how can someone who is in the shadows become the light to show the people their path when he is still pretty much lost on the ways of life?"

Since when has Naruto been struck with such a deviant intelligence?

"Isn't the concept of a Kage the one who watches from the shadows the same as my ideology? A Kage is someone who shoulders people's hate, takes it upon himself and unites their hearts under a common goal, silently being the subject of their tears their hate and their pain and pretty much guard them from the shadows. If they have someone to hate and someone to deem as an enemy as a _monster_ then they will see just how idiotic is to preoccupy themselves with fighting between them for ambition. "

Instead of screaming at how imbecile it was Naruto sighed, fine–combed his spiky hair backwards and looked sternly to his friend." This is wrong on so many levels Teme. Acting like a reflection of your deceased brother will never solve anythi–"

"–I am not stepping into Itachi shoes, damn it." Sasuke was absolutely sick and tired of his comrades to always be thinking of him as someone who was trying to show his allegiance to a deceased man by acting like him, because Sasuke had his own version of a dream to accomplish and those idiots simply didn't get it!

"My brother was complacent and merely followed orders. His morals were noble and faithful but his ambitions were small narrow and barely existent. Itachi couldn't see the bigger picture; the one that went even _beyond_ the Village and this is why he failed." At this, Sasuke's silky tone took a more calloused inflection and it sounded like he was doing his best not to snap at him.

This kinesics only proved it to Naruto that Sasuke was troubled by the way the conversation was flowing because he knew that Naruto was being and being mistaken Uchiha was something that Uchiha rather had his wrists sliced before admitting it out loud.

"He failed because he did everything alone and inconspicuous instead of relying on his comrades. Something that you should learn in order not to make the same mistakes as him. "

"Great." Sasuke actually found it in him to snort at the blonde, as he sunk into the comfy chair and started to study some files about the export of tea assortments in the other Villages and the taxes, understanding that someone needed to take charge of that, otherwise the Leaf will face bankruptcy very soon. "Now I am being lectured by an idiot."

"This idiot is your best pal damn it!" Ah, this raven haired male was quite dense for a considered genius. Naruto took a full fist of Sasuke`s collar and snarled right in his face. Sasuke didn't brush off that calmness cold attitude and this mannerism ticked on the blonde`s short patience.

"I know that and this is why the figure that they want to see as a Hokage, " Sasuke unclasped his hand away from his clothes and shot to the blonde. " the helpless puppet, the symbol of a hero, and this ray of sunshine like you put it, is going to be _you_ , Naruto. "

"What?" Naruto`s whiskered face twisted in a comical confused way that was funny to see. "What the heck are you talking abo–"

"–wasn't it your dream to become the Hokage one day and unite the people? Read their hearts and talk them into fighting for peace and give up fighting each other? I am curious as in how will you will be able to unite people who have so many different views on this world while in reality you are naive enough to be someone that they can trust and brand as someone to follow. "

"Huh? Are you serious or drunk? " He didn't reek like alcohol but then again, Sasuke had a pretty high alcohol tolerance and he could quite fool someone into thinking that he hasn't had any drink if he wanted to.

Uchiha let out a prolonged sigh finding it a very bad idea to leave the home in search of solitude and calmness just to face another idiot to bother him.

He tossed the scroll that he was skimming through carelessly on the desk and shot up from the chair, linking his hands backwards, and turned around and stepped in the window looking at the villagers who were cleaning the streets from the remains of the battle and they were not bothered by the upcoming night as they were busy fixing their destroyed homes, filling the streets. "Hn. You didn't think that I delude myself into thinking that they will ever accept _me_ as a Hokage, did you?"

Naruto stood rooted in place blinking rapidly as he shook his head not quite comprehending Sasuke`s words. Oh god, this man was always such a hard puzzle to decrypt. "But I thought that you wanted to become the Hokage and change this village and the current system and replace it with something less ambitious and corrupt–" This is exactly the thing that the Uchiha always told him while they were having a clash of opinions and now it looked like the raven haired male was either confusing himself or the others, lying through his teeth.

"–by staying in the _shadows_ and operate from there and not making a fool of myself and trying to claim the title by force just like that pathetic Danzo attempted but failed. He was stupid enough not to remain in the shadows. He had real influence and power while being in charge to the Root, but whenever he tried to come to the light he failed and he got a kick in his butt and fell back to his hole humiliated and losing credibility. I won't be that stupid, dobe."

"So... what you want from me is to be your puppet? Like Hell I will ever allow myself to be–"

"–a partner. What I want us to do is cooperate. Isn't this your own version of a Kage?" Naruto grew silent at this understanding that mismatched logic of his friend, but it didn't mean that he agreed with him.

"How will you," The cerulean eyed Uzumaki mumbled softly to his friend, finding it really tiring to have this conversation again. He understood what Sasuke wanted but he could begin to phantom how it will ever work. "be able to cope with all the hate Teme? No one can shoulder so much darkness not even you, because no matter how much you try to become the epitome of darkness, it is in people's nature to never be lonely and always seek for contact. Even _she_ , who is a Priestess, and someone who has to cleanse souls and show them the right path, heal and forgive... us scared of you, hates you and deem you as a monster.

 _Someone irreparable._

"Or maybe," This is when Naruto actually find it in him to let his suppressed anger that crippled his face with a deep frown, turn into a concupiscent snicker and flashed a set of gums to his obsidian eyed friend, taunting him. "she doesn't hate you at all, on the contrary she might see it clearly that even though you try to pretend to be the child of darkness, you are lonely and loathe to feel like crap and sulk all the time when you think that no one is watching."

Sasuke closed his eyes thinking about the disgust in her eyes and the words but he overlapped his scope and they were two parallel roads with not point of intersection. For someone to accomplish a goal and get something that they truly desired, then they must sacrifice another.

"Hn." He dropped the conversation that started to bore him out of his mind and when Naruto dropped _that_ woman`s name, something flipped into his mind and he resisted the need to punch the window that he was looking at. "That woman... Has no relevant significance to me other than show it to the people that they can only rely on their strength alone and not on some feeble indoctrinated woman whose naivety is far worse than yours."

"About that, " Naruto start d edgy and Sasuke immediately sensed the spike in his voice that took a suave touch. He frowned at the foolish boyish sheepish grin that formed explicit on Naruto`s lips. " I want to free a prisoner. "

Sasuke didn't even flinch upon hearing that news, but anyone who knew him enough could clearly see that the way his shoulders stiffened ever so slightly signalized that he didn't like what he was hearing. "What? Who?"

The blond held his gaze as Sasuke half turned his masculine profile to look at his best friend. "A woman. A Hyuga woman. Hyuga Neji`s girl cousin to be more precise, Hyuga Hinata."

Sasuke's orbs took a dangerous sharp and if the gleam into those black pearl orbs weren't enough to advise Naruto to drop the subject before he snapped, then the way he hissed the worlds like a snake did the trick. "Are you out of your goddamn mind Naruto? This is out of question."

"I didn't question your reason or the real motive of you imprisoning the Priestess of Tea, so at least try to trust me on this one Teme."

Naruto could see wheels spinning inside his skull and he nearly grinned when he realized that he got Sasuke here. "Why do you want that woman for? A concubine? A maid? A distraction, a drinking comrade, or has your guilty conscience filled with too much remorse?" Because there was no way that Sasuke ever did something out on a whim without having some sort of a mischievous plan and he definitely wasn't searching for a companion to share his bed. He never did.

"If you want to do charity work then do it with the civilians but not the other shinobi. Do you want us to be the laughing stock by being tricked by a female enemy because she poisoned your food or strangled you in the sleep and flied away? "

"N–No, you're wrong! She is not capable of something like this you don't know her–"

"–and neither do you. Don't be stupid Naruto, you can have any other woman you like, without her to be our enemy." Seriously, why couldn't this blonde idiot just get his ass to some brothels like the other idiots of their friends and have _fun_ with the women who were more than willing to have that kind of fun and do all those concupiscent things that made the Uchiha cringe upon thinking about them, without getting himself into a lot of trouble?

The answer was simple: because he was Naruto freaking Uzumaki and creating trouble was his all-time hobby.

"And so are you, but you chose that Priestess from all the women available who basically beg you and throw themselves at your feet, kissing the ground you walk. "

"This is because I need her to accomplish my goa–"

"–bullshit! This is ridiculous and totally so not true and we both know it Teme! The Uzumaki intercepted and cut him halfway not believing a word. In fact, he was dying to see that woman who Sasuke has probably captured because he was ready to bet all his Ramen collection that she was unbelievable beautiful. "You didn't do it because she is a Priestess, no way in hell, you did it because you consider her to be your ticket to salvation from all your sins! She is redemption and the only angel with a heart of gold capable of forgiving you for the monster that you have become and eventually grow to show you _love_! "

Sasuke felt like someone has knocked the wind out of his lungs and for some stupid reason the feeling he had was something ravishing and rambunctious. He stared at enraged Naruto not comprehend why his mind froze unable to concoct a nasty retort for the blonde.

What the fuck was that nitwit talking about?

Naruto swiveled on his heel and strode out of the office after snarling to him. "You can stop me from taking her out of the cell for now but you can't order me not to visit her every day and make sure that she is fine. And one day, I will set her free." With that Naruto dashed out of the Hokage`s office, leaving Sasuke behind alone and with far more problems and things to churn into his mind and get him crazy. The Uchiha pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling the headache turn his headache into a boiling furious volcano ready to burst any moment by now.

He circled the desk not feeling in the mood to sort those files by himself –knowing that someone might do that in order to have the Village still operate like nothing happened–thinking about making Shikamaru work overtime since that torpid genius was actually quite fit to assume that role, and quickly dashing out of the building, looking for the best place to alleviate some… _stress._

Fucking dobe for making him think of the Priestess again, since it was exactly the reason why he got out of that house.

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* * *

The sound of someone tripping on something and slamming into the front door made Sakura`s emerald orbs fly wide open as she was deep in a dreamless slumber and her tired orbs nictated for a few moments to adjust to the heavy darkness around, narrowing in the direction of the door.

For a moment, she forgot that she wasn't in the safety of her Shrine and her heart started to tick like a broken clock that was trying to outrun the flow of time and she jolted her upper body up as she stood crawled in a ball, freezing of how cold it was inside, tapping her hands against the cool wooden floor.

A tall svelte silhouette stumbled in the house as a clumsy palm slide the futon door wide open shuffling inside and dragging it back shut, padding along the floor and for a moment, before realizing that it was the very owner returning from where he wandered up until now, Sakura foolishly thought that it was a burglar.

But when his silhouette that was dispersed into the bottomless nebula surrounding them, approaching her as he teetered on his feet looking quite disoriented, she panicked. Sakura quickly pulled herself in a standing position just in time to come face to face with Sasuke himself and his handsome face which was half enhanced by the moon rays that were peeping through the window making her realize just how close they were.

Immediately her innate instincts urged her to take two steps back to get away from him, but Sasuke didn't even give her a chance to blink before his calloused hands wrapped around her forearms and kept her flush into his chest and she stammered. "W-Wha–"

"–are you afraid of me?"

She gasped slightly at the way his outrageous question flew off his lips and for the first time, she felt the need to crunch her nose at the way he basically reeked heavily of _sake_ as a solid token of where exactly has he been so late in the night. Confused jade orbs aligned with his onyx orbs as she arched her neck to reach his impressive height, immediately frowning as they seemed to have troubles focusing on her face and had it been some other man in his place and not her very kidnapper, Sakura would have found that situation ridiculously funny.

Actually, those impenetrable ominous onyx orbs lost the determination and the grace in them as they were glassy and misty of all the alcohol that his mind was reeling into, swirling in his eyes. He was troubled and her mind spun when trying to read what resided inside. "Let me go, what is wrong with yo–"

"–am I scaring you?" He tightened the hold on her skin and for a moment, Sakura wondered if the alcohol was having some sort of miraculously healing powers on him because even though he was clearly completely drunk, his strength was back on him as it was before his obvious injury staining his clothes throbbed and slowed him down.

In his dizzy mind, Sasuke pretty much knew what he was doing and just seeing her lying on the improvised futon on his little carpets, so helpless and looking at him with those inquisitive shimmering emerald eyes like a puppy pleading and begging to be loved and petted was making him go crazy and he sniffled once to feel her distinctive floral feminine perfume pervade his senses. "Tell me again just how much of a _monster_ I am." He needed to deny Naruto's words desperately because not even the alcohol could grant him that sweet oblivion.

To prove it to himself that she will never love him back as that idiot suggested in his imbecile assumption. Never. He is wrong. Naruto was delusional and Sasuke didn't need such pathetic emotions as love from anyone. He truly didn't and denied all the almighty power that useless feeling granted. "Throw it in my fucking face just how much I disgust you and how much you despise me." He needed to hear it from her mouth right now otherwise, he will surely go insane.

She didn't understand why was he acting like this and this unhinged attitude scared Sakura more than his composed lethal form. He was inebriated so Sakura grew naturally afraid of what he might do to her. Albeit something about him… those eyes wanted confirmation of something but his words were conveying an other emotion a distorted one. She tried to pry her hand away from him as his fingertips were pressed into her yielding skin leaving fine red marks on her. "You're hurting–"

He was making her do something that she won't. Her job wasn't to hate the others on the contrary she was supposed to protect the people not loathe them. She stared deep into his eyes. Those bottomless inky hues were not talking the same language as his lips. His solitude was fazing and freezing her. Was he asking for it deliberately? He was embracing that loneliness and forced her to act upon his plea.

No.

He had to make her hate him because if their woman whose job was to accept and love the others would despise him, then he could fully embrace those feelings of being outcast by everyone. Love had the significance of commitment and commitment implied straying away from his purpose.

Her hate will nourish the monster of darkness satiating from the negative feelings; if the Priestess admitted her disdain and resentful feelings in his presence, then he would have the confirmation that Naruto's idiotic missives were void, thus being able to brush them off his mind once and for all.

But she will not act in the way he demanded, not even if she hating him meant taking one more step in that twisted game and she abhorred that.

"–answer me Priestess. " She still hasn't told him her name and Sakura was grateful that she didn't because there was just something in that husky voice that no one possessed which was making her innards twitter; it sounded like an alto key tune of a velvet piano melody and way too perfect and rich to be human, but at the same time he could infuse so many emotions into it, playing like a spell on the others. "Tell me just how much you hate me. Say it, I want to hear it. "

What? He _wanted_ to be hated? Was he high or bipolar? What was his problem? Sakura started to wonder whether this Uchiha wasn't completely insane. Did he drink so much that he was barely standing on his two feet just to come up with this stupid new resolution and coax her into saying something that she never had before?

"Of course that I hat–" She froze in shock when she saw that lucent glint flickering into his orbs like she peeked into his soul. Words refused to escape her lips. Yes, she was afraid of him, she wanted to escape him and free the prisoners and free the Village from his clutch, but denied to state the obvious. How can one not hate someone like this?

It was his eyes. Something in his eyes made her standstill midway and it wasn't because of some stupid emotions that she might nurture for him such as falling in love with her captor because that was idiotic, no, it was something else making her stop before she said what his lips demanded.

And she didn't know why because Sakura has never been in such a situation before.

But Sasuke decided to be funny and put an end to every coherent figment that might have traversed into her mind with his next action.

Without warning, the Uchiha fisted her coral silky hair that was undulating behind her back as the tendrils fell softly along the curb of her spine brushing past her small back in the form of a siren`s slim tail, and before she processed what he was about to do, his wet soft lips collided with her own in a searing effervescent _kis_ s.

That wasn't a kiss of lips mashing against lips this was a loss of searching for something. She tried to tap his chest with her palm and push him back but he was the one to break contact, whispering hotly upon her lips as they both panted harshly. "Don't you ever dare to fall in _love_ with me Priestess."

She gasped in shock at his words but he slammed his mouth against her gaping luscious once again, this time, taking full advantage to glistening his sleek tongue inside her lush mouth, licking her lips sensually and demanding, as his tongue rolling around her own appendage, angling her chin with his hands cupping her cheek, while the another one encompased her waist.

Sasuke completely lost himself into the breeze of the moment, relinquishing any logic in favor of claiming her shock stricken lips, entwining their mouths in a bruising feverous lip lock, kissing her in a way that he never kissed anyone before, without even comprehending his excessive behavior.

And this time, there was no Shadow Clone to prevent her from fully _tasting_ this man on her very skin.

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* * *

"Don't… ever make the mistake of falling for his… smooth talk, Lady Hinata–sama." A husky throaty voice has broken the lunar eyed woman who was lying on the soggy cold ground right across his own cell from her daze.

Hinata immediately reacted by jolting up and she jogged to the bars of her own cell, wrapping her slim digits around them and her shimmering orbs filled with worry and relief when she took in the contour of the man who was addressing her weakly.

"N-Neji-nii-san?! Oh God, Neji-nii-san you are safe!" Naruto didn't lie to her, they didn't kill him just like he has… promised her. But he looked in a very bad condition like it was only pride the thing that prevented him from not rolling in pain. His clothes were tarnished and covered in dirt and blood as it hung around his bruised lacerated marble form, as he stood with his back prompted on the iron bed that was hanging on the wall and a leg bent to his chest, with one hand dangling on his knee.

"Heh," he gave her a weak smirk that was poking from the maze of disarray chocolate locks brushing past his shoulders and chest. "it depends on your definition of safety, Lady Hinata. I see that they have captured you too." She knew what he meant by that statement and the missive alone felt like a fresh stab in the heart, hurting her beyond belief.

She pouted and bit her lower lip down casting her orbs to face the dirty ground. "H-Hanabi-chan… m-my sister is… s-she was… when t-they ambushed us t-to the K-Kikyo pass b-bridge…" she couldn't say it but she felt the way he tensed and his head fell down, dejected. He had chakra restrainers around both of his wrists like the enemy wanted to make double sure that his won't be able to use his fearsome Kekke Genkai and escape.

A tear trailed along her cheek and she fell on her knees still holding the bars. "I-I am sorry for n-not being able top-protect–"

"–my love," Neji cut her short whispering the endearing words in a way that physically hurt Hinata more than any weapon. His voice was broken, empty, hollow and mourning he was dying on the inside and his entire aura turned the sick pallor of a man who was ready to give up. "my pregnant fiancé… who was with my first unborn child–" his shoulders started to tremble like he was crying but no tears seemed to wet his lavender orbs.

He couldn't even cry for his fiancé; the pain was beyond physical. He felt numb both on the inside and outside and unable to react in any way. Just like Hinata, Neji was pretty much praying for death; for a chance to reunite with Hanabi.

Hinata was crying silently just like him. No one dared to interrupt the moment, although the other Konoha shinobi who knew Neji and they were being part of his platoon mourned just as so knowing how much he loved Hanabi Hyuga. "She went after Hiashi-sama in Heaven... Lady Hinata-sama."

At that, the Hyuga`s lavender orbs burned like they were hot coals. She gasped at her cousin who as looking at her through the maze of disarray chocolate locks of hair with a hollow empty set of pearl orbs. "W-W-What," she whispered softly shaking her head. "m-my Father is… _dead_?"

He nodded to her once, fine-combing a hand through his hair, averting his stare from her and turning to look at a scribbled side wall. "Yes. He has been killed by one of their best men," his voice lacked the determination and the strength and was now reduced to a mellow whisper. "someone with a formidable power and a monstrous face who I think is the guard of this place. Someone by the name of Juugo."

"N–No," tears were washing along her porcelain cheeks as Hinata glued her forehead on the bars, gripping them as her entire frame was quivering like a lotus rippling along the glassy waters. "No! F-Father…" She was an orphan now, her sister died and her cousin was a prisoner just like her. What would become of the Hyuga clan now that the Leader and the heirs were pretty much annihilated?

Will the fell prey to the realm of forgotten memories just like the… _Uchiha?_

"We have to never give up on hope, Lady Hinata," Neji tried but he wasn't too convincing. She wanted so much to embrace his cousin and mourn and grieve their loss. His heart has been petrified. Without Hanabi by his side, Neji lost the desire to live. "we have to be strong, for the both of them." He couldn't believed that he was quoting Uzumaki.

"You have to find a way to get out of–"

"–I-I know, Neji-nii-san." She breathed to him between sobs and hot tears that choked her like a rope wrapped around her throat. "I will think of a way to escape t-this p-prison," she raised her virtrouse orbs to peep at the equally pale pair of Neji`s lucent ones. "by taking _advantage_ of Uzumaki Naruto and his seemingly infatuation w-with me." It was a scheming and hypocrite yes, but she had no choice. If there was any opportunity to leave from there, she had to take it.

' _I promise you Father, Hanabi-chan. I will escape from this place and continue to fight!'_

"P-Please believe in my, Neji-nii-san." The determination was percolating from her lucent shimmering eyes as she dried her moist eyelashes with the palm of her hand.

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* * *

A/N: Wow thank you a million times guys for all the support, I am genuinely flattered and honored by all this feedback. I cannot help but feel truly buoyant and flail.

Now I kind of have the sketch of the concept of this story in my mind and I want to force the barriers of my twisted imagination and see if I can play with the plot and infuse this story with some actual manga facts. I want to test and see if I can imagine Sasuke`s own version of a Hokage play in this set. I want to see if he could have been successful in his approach and of course, I will take Naruto`s own ideas into consideration. I want to see where this will lead.

Also, I think that it will be funny to imagine how would it be for Naruto and other characters seek revenge for how they have been misjudged and treated badly when they were kids and where will that lead, of course, not abandoning their dominant trait from their character, but I want to try and give the obviously solar and 'good' characters in the manga a darker touch.

There are some things that I swear that try my best not to do in this story and this will be:

-not make Sakura a helpless puppet in the hands of Sasuke and have her fall in love with him so easily;

-have Hinata play the weak girl with no backbone who chases after Naruto;

-make my characters ruthless and obscure without a purpose.

To answer to a review from one of the **Guest** please do not be confused by the storyline so far, because no, Sasuke and his gang, albeit being branded as the bad guys, they did NOT rape or tortured or massacred innocent people, like civilains. No, their object of hate is mostly SHINOBI. When I said that they sleep with women or have… fun with them, I meant going to brothels and do pretty much what Jirayia does. I am sorry if I made it sound as confusing.

But… even if I promised to you guys that I will not make Sakura weak and ready to throw herself at Sasuke`s feet, the set up and the upcoming moments between them are only satisfying mine –and I hope that yours too- desire of some really intense Sasuke and Sakura moments, as I want to preserve the _erotic_ touch of this plot.

Because just like **ElevatedJewel-sama** brilliantly figured it out and depicted so accurately, yes, when I thought about this story I had in mind the Chinese symbolism of those samurai and Priestess who were beautiful warriors that seemed to be coming from Ancient times with some elements from Zen and a tinge of Buddhism and Ancient Chinese Kings and Queens –mostly in terms of that beautiful sensual intimacy- and the concept of the Yin and Yang and the five nature elements. I am sure you guys know what I am talking about.

Like always, I will take my time into properly show my deepest gratitude to:

 **Guest**

 **Yami no Emi**

 **Guest**

 **Nini**

 **ElevatedJewel**

 **Maram**

 **sasusaku dream**

 **A Shadow Away**

 **Chinweoa**

 **sakuraXxXShisui**

 **Nicolette**

 **lovesasusakuforever**

 **Guest**

 **hifi**

 **West**

 **Guest**

 **Guest**

 **Guest NH**

 **anime1angel**

 **C.S**

 **Usagifriend,**

For being willing to spare some moments and let me know how you felt about the story and the latest chapter and yes, of course that your support is not only encouraging but also inspiring, uplifting and touching. It helps a lot to have feedback from my readers letting me know if my message reached them and if it had a positive or a negative impact, so as to let me know what can I do to improve this story and make it more enjoyable.

I salute my _**faithful**_ readers and bow in gratitude to them for following this story as well, thank you guys I will have never succeeded without you! **anime1angel** never feel sorry for something like that, because even the notion of having you read my stories makes my heart swell with pride, thank you for the support, you are amazing.

 **Maram, ElevatedJewel, lovesasusakuforever, hifi** I will never be able to properly thank you for always be so consistent in your reviews and you are among those readers who follow my other stories and show so much support, I feel blessed to have readers and friends –I hope that you are ok with me considering you my friends- like you to share my stories with and see that you are so insightful, intelligent and always get the insight of my work! Imagine me sending all the hugs, kisses and cookies in the world to you guys!

To my newest followers and readers, I hope you guys like this story so far and thank you for being so kind and receptive in giving me and this story a chance, you are awesome!

And… hey, of course that I wouldn't have Sasuke succeed in his way of forcing himself on Sakura like this from the second chapter, honestly I too burst out laughing manically when I imagined a plot twist and how would I make Sakura escape him. I am glad that you guys liked that twist in the end.

One more thing, I am very sorry for the spelling and grammar mistakes, I have skimmed through this chapter like always and corrected it as much as I could in order not to offend you guys with a superficial spellchecking, but I am in a hurry to attend a _rock concert_ this night, though I wanted to give you guys this chapter as soon as possible. So sorry in advance!

To everyone who follows this story, I hope that you guys liked this chapter as well! Thank you so much, minna-sama!

Till next time…


	4. Cold Rain

**::CHAPTER IV – COLD RAIN::**

* * *

"How dare you!" Without realizing exactly what she was about to do, the back of her palm latched to his cheek and she bristled in a slap so fierce that almost sent his head flying backwards as it ricocheted by the force of the impact, screaming in his face between sobs that welled inside her chest at the silent Uchiha in front of her.

"How dare you to touch me like I am some sort of possession to you! I nowhere near belong to you and no matter how many times you demand it, you cannot decide how or what should I feel or say!"

Her entire form was trembling in a bursting rage that she had never felt in her entire life before. Those lips that took a purple-maroon tinge were quivering as she panted heavily, gasping and hollering in his face words that never felt from her lips and the hand that has connected to his cheek turned angry red, itching to make contact again and slap this raven haired male into oblivion until he woke up from whatever drug has consumed in order to behave this erratic way.

"Don't you ever, " Sakura began lowly, practically hissing every syllable in a vile way that stunned both of them, voice piercing the coldness in the room while the air around burst into flames and she was actually feeling droplets of perspiration rolling along her temples. "touch me again without my consent. Never!"

Even though Sakura hadn't enunciated any explicit action that she would take if he stepped into her bubble again, she truly hoped that she made her point clear.

Yes, he might be the one to kill the Hokage and yes, his strength was as ominous as his formidable reputation stood above every whisper hushed form the lips of all the ones who faced his wrath and lived to tell the story to the others, but it didn't mean that she should relinquish her dignity just because he held her captive.

If Sakura ever entertained the belief of understanding what was concocting inside his mind and how the limbs of darkness carried his lifeless heart along the river of the lost ones, crossing the point of no return, then she was even dumber and more foolish than her actions.

Because Sasuke acted in the least predictable manner namely he started to chuckle at her, still keeping his head slant and askew from her, tenebrously and huskily as it rung like the strings of a bass guitar in that peculiar rich resonance that made her breath hitch halfway.

When the empowering high caused by the revolt of his action dissipated like magic, Sakura found herself scared out of her mind for her rash brazen action and she honestly expected him to react violently and snap at her in a brutal way, but he did the opposite, proving it to her just how much of a genius actor this impenetrable wall of cobblestone bricks could be when Sasuke susurrated the words to her, not even tilting his head to watch her in the eyes. "Finish," A pair of jade orbs widened ever so slightly while she held her breath afraid to even glimmer and miss his soft whisper. "that threat... _Priestess_."

"–t–threat... what threat?" What was he talking about? She hasn't warned him that something bad might happen to him if he approached her again; she only asked him not to do it again.

Proving to have sharper reflexes that any other drunken men, Sasuke grasped the hand that she used to slap him, twisting it once although it wasn't enough to hurt her; he was rather... frisky. Sakura gasped aloud at his action.

"Defend yourself through your words," He tucked on her wrist as she her lips spread open while Sasuke yanked her to him and pressed the tip of his nose on her cheek making Sakura squeeze her orbs shut anticipating something else. "stab me with your eyes and look at me like you would gaze to a demon," She couldn't breathe normally; it got halt halfway her throat and it was impossible to think of a reply.

Sakura pursed her lips and held in her breath feeling her entire body pickling with hot tingles welling into every corner of her chest and mind; the air became suffocating and the space close into her similar to being caged into the nightmares of her mind but at the same time, that closeness of the ebony hair male transgression the intimacy of her personal space so confident and uncaring evoked something in her that she couldn't brush off. "like you all used to look any other _Uchiha_."

That particular sharp inflection that his tongue took made Sakura's heart rate pick up its tempo but now words burst out form her half opened quivering lips; she didn't even have to because the moment her jade pools immersed into those antagonistic sapphire hues of his, lips fused with hers again, kissing her once again, not caring in the bit about her previous words.

And again her instinct got the best of her when Sakura used her free hand –since he hadn't loosened his grip on the other one keeping their entwined hands between their chests– and pushed him roughly away from her and when the brief loss of contact permitted her, Sakura lashed her palm to his face and slapped him even harder than the first time against the other side of his face, landing on his carved sharp jaw line and she was positive that she did more harm to herself than it did to him.

But this time he looked prepared for such a reaction, because Sasuke merely turned his head, angling it so as only the velvet of his raven tendrils spilled along the alabaster of his aristocratic features, his onyx orbs filling with a smug mocking look. He was smirking visibly to her but something about his aura made Sakura believe that he was inwardly laughing his ass out loud at her.

At how weak and pathetic she was in this state of mind.

"What is wrong with you stop doing this! We are nothing like this!"

"You are just as much of a delusional fool as the dobe," He clicked on his tongue breathing in her face words that brushed past her eardrums without reliving in her mind.

She couldn't comprehend this man's ideology at all; those words were springing from a river of infinite misconceptions, she could perceive it in the way her one innards tattered that he was broken, hurt and very lonely but his actions albeit turbulent and contradictory, were so genuine.

Whatever came out of his mouth, Uchiha wasn't lying. He was probably too arrogant to conceal his intentions by exploring such petty excuses.

What she failed to notice was that he was fighting her fairly without cheating because now he wasn't fighting her like a ninja but as a _man_ , knowing that even though she couldn't defend herself as a kunoichi, she was able to do so as a _woman._

And her weak response, that ineffable innocence and the lack of experience entombed into those infinite abysses of gleaming emerald orbs amused him and satiated a thirst that he didn't know it existed into someone like him. "because indeed, there is nothing for you to understand. Just like the others," His voice took a malicious dark turn. "you are all too superficial and obsessed with power and you're wellbeing to notice and to care."

"What is that you know Priestess?" He continued on that velvet dark whisper as Sakura only gulped down, swallowing the words that refused to come out and the breaths that wouldn't leave her lungs. "how does the world look like from your little oasis of safety? Does it look happy? Do we all have _fun_?"

Orbs widened in sheer shock when Sakura realized that part of Sasuke`s twisted words were… correct. Oh, dear Kami–sama, he was right.

"Do you really know everything? You know nothing Priestess, just like the others but instead of learning and touching for yourself, know it for yourself and find the _real_ truth, you are being complacent. Oblivion is the gift of fools and traitors."

Again, once more, she saw him coming, he saw him inching down towards her, his intoxicating scent imbued with sake rushed to her senses like a drug, penetrating her mind.

She saw him coming closer, she saw the words that he wasn't conveying swiveling into those blizzard obsidian eyes, she saw vanity and loneliness dance in the most twisted tango but this time... She was at loss of how to fight him back.

Sasuke`s lips spanned along hers fully suckling on them, expertly stroking and pulling at those lush red roses, sliding his tongue along her soft petals, tasting and claiming a territory that didn't belong to him, then rolling inside her crevice depending that kiss.

A lone tear rushed down the curb of her margarite cheeks shimmering along the nacre of her skin like pearls shimmering underwater.

Sasuke didn't leash to her hungrily and demanding like the first time hard and lethal, no, this time he betrayed exactly how was the essence of him –of any Uchiha.

An immense passion came undone from the swell of his chest from the inner of his blood where it moored like a shadow to the light, as his lips tapped against her own with ample strokes, clasping around hers all the while his tongue outstretched form his cavern to expanse into her own like a bridge connecting two pieces of opposite land, bonding, linking and creating a pathway.

 _A gateway._

With all the difficulty in the world, Sakura acted against the most intimate beckoning calling of her soul and cooked her chin so as their moist lower lips grazed against one another in jolts of tremors rolling through both their limbs and dipping her head down in complete embarrassment and anger, her hand connected to his check again, but this time it resembled a diaphanous out caress against his skin lacking the determination to fully punish him for the bold action.

Her palm slide past his face and fell ungracefully on her side as it brushed his forearms feeling every inch of those supple muscles flex as a cruel betrayal of how he truly felt inside even if his mind blocked everything safely keeping him at distance from what he refused to accept.

"Stop ple–" No she wouldn't end with him to stop.

He knew what remained trapped into those lips. Sasuke didn't understand he was so out of I; t he didn't known what was happening around him and with him, alcohol clouded his mind and his body spoke other language, and conveyed another message like it had other demands. He didn't understand that entire annoying situation and it passed him off.

"–You are so damn annoying." This line hurt more than anything. He was channeling his hate to her and expected the same.

She summoned the anger to slap him once more but he caught that feeble attempt trapping both hands into his own. "Enough."

"No more–" Sis lips found hers once more and their mouths entwined once _more_. That feeling came undone twice the intensity. His hands wrapped around her own arms, keeping her close to his chest, as his lips were seemingly trying to tell her more; that he was a man who didn't care about the others' feelings as long as he could satisfy his own.

Sakura quickly came to realize it that someone who has managed to amass such a great lot of shinobi and beckoning them to participate in his tergiversation and transgression and pretty much becoming their own leader will be someone who was much more convoluted than a nitwit with too much free time to spare and rabid hormones.

Yes he tried to rape her in the forest and thank Kami that he wasn't successful but even then her clone depicted something in his demeanor that she couldn't comprehend.

But what? He wasn't as savage and brutal as someone who normally did that type of sexual action would have been in his place, on the contrary he seemed to be really enjoying himself as one would enjoying a gulp of sake after a torrid day of work.

That unexplainable _finesse_... This particular Uchiha heir possessed a formidable elegance added to his tremendous strength and superior intellect.

But where did it come from? Just like in this very moment, his kiss was so irresistibly sensual, demanding but at the same time precise, his strokes were ample, his skin yielding and luscious, the taste, his technique, the contact with his skin, everything, every mannerism, every motion, every brush of his lips as he pulled and suckle on her own, were something **more.**

Sasuke himself had no idea of what the hell was he doing but all that he knew was that the jingling bell inside his mind urged him to relinquish into everything, leaned forward to her and press his lips against hers even harder but he kept the same slow pace as before, because it allowed him to savor her taste better than if he would have had if he would have been brutal.

He was never rash or barbarous because that only betrayed lack of coordination, lack of self confidence in himself as a man, and it was uncharacteristically for someone like Sasuke to be clumsy and rough. Even if he entombed the essence of crepuscule, he also had an inborn elegance that any Uchiha would possess.

And Sakura felt it so clear in the way he kissed her. In fact, the sensation and the course of events also stunned her.

His lips were moist, supple and very masculine but never lacking sensuality; his abrasive tongue stroked hers occasionally and glistened along her lips then skimmed into her mouth, filling her experimentally in a wet slither French kiss.

Sakura had never experienced a man's lips against hers before and definitely not with an enemy but she couldn't deny it no matter how much she mentally fought against it.

This was way better than it was supposed to be. In her vivid imagination, Sakura envisioned such an act to be weird to the feel but on the contrary, it sent tickles of pleasure all over her limbs.

She put it past a normal reaction of hormones but it didn't explain the miniature of a sizzling sun burning into the pits of her belly and the occasional knots under her belly button whenever his tongue slide along her lips and his own tapped against her mouth.

It should have been unpleasant to feel his saliva spread into her mouth, slick and warm and fine like a spider's net as his tongue rolled against her pearl teeth of lips, allowing her to taste him in her mouth, but it wasn't like she has anticipated, on the contrary, it did something to her that started to scare the Priestess.

Because suddenly, Sakura found herself craving for _more._ Oh Kami what was wrong with her? This was so wrong, this should not be happening, not like this and definitely not with _this_ man.

Uchiha was troubled, probably a little deranged, his deviant behavior was probably explained by the calloused past, the loss of his family turned him from the right way to the other side of dusk, he was a soul trapped between the two worlds, dancing behind the veil and embracing this alienation with open arms, he was a captor, a murderer, a lost soul drowning in the _Styx_ River without a coin to cross over, this is sin and so wrong.

If only her body would speak the same language as her mind then her situation would have been different. Maybe it was all psychological.

Maybe because she was scared to be in this unfamiliar place, maybe it was because he was so silky to the touch and infused a twisted sense of comfort into her raising panic, maybe she tried to understand him in another way than through words.

This Uchiha was a man of few words and mostly action. If she tried to talk the syllables out of him she will never succeed. If she wanted to escape him then she needed to learn how he thinks, how he envisioned the world going round and Sakura could only do this by decrypting his outré gestures.

She wanted air so much that her lungs began to throb and hurt but Sakura found it easy to steal short gulps of air between their kiss because he was not bring invasive.

His kiss felt... Experimental which was stupid because a man of his caliber, who looked the way he did was clearly someone polished, albeit she would never admit it out loud but breathing against his lips was quite **hot.**

If anything, the kiss turned ten times hotter as Sakura`s breath fanned hotly against his upper lip and nose. A gossamer moan vibrated from her chest when Sasuke pressed his tongue on her mouth, flickering upon the small lump that resembled a Cupid's arrow cupping her lip and she simply couldn't help it when her entire body vibrated and resonated with another wave of heat washing along her spine.

Suddenly the diaphanous clothes she wore felt like a thick blanket making her sweat and feel incredibly hot.

 _What the freaking Hell?_ That was the most coherent thing that Sasuke's intoxicated mind could produce. Just what in the world was he doing and more importantly, why the heck was he kissing this woman? Why was he still  kissing her like she was his... Someone _important_ to him?

It was just to prove it Naruto, to his own conscience, to the world, to all the den of demons residing into his mind, to this troubled conscience that this woman had _no_ power or influence on him; to demonstrate that the reason why she was here had nothing to do with the fact that he sought for any form of **redemption** because he regretted nothing from what he did, nothing. It was a gesture to validate that he could not be bounded by something as irrelevant as a Goddess –a Priestess had no meaning to him.

And more importantly, he had to nullify her symbolism as someone who was all forgiving because what the fuck? He was so sick of that fantasy world where everyone got high on the concept of being friends and comrades who bonded because they shared the same suffering, that they forgave and forget and everything that has transpired between them, replacing hate with flowers, colors and harmony.

No, that was Naruto's view over the world but seriously no person who was level headed and rooted into this cruel existence could think like this. It only meant that everything was in vain. What was there to forget and forgive? What about his family?

What about his brother`s sacrifice? What about Naruto's parents? What about those outcasts thrown in the dark forgotten and sacrificed for the benefits of the others? Would they all forgive and forget and accept that there are being sacrificial pieces of chess just because they happened to be in the _way_?

 _Hell no!_ If Naruto and this Priestess were capable of forgiving and living like saints, then they could pretty much rejoice and return to their fantasy world where they can design a perfect world without him because Sasuke didn't need anyone to pour dust and glitter in his eyes and drug him with that concept.

He admired them for their immeasurable naivety but that was just a **dream**. Illusions were for the people who afforded the luxury of sleeping.

But not him. No, Sasuke enjoyed the presence of darkness as he relinquished in the calmness of the silence. The nights knew of his suffering and they knew his scars. Everything happened during _the_ night time. This was a silent faithful witness and an ally. He basked in that serenity.

This is why the Uchiha couldn't comprehend why were his lips still tasting hers; and why did he froze for two good seconds when a hesitant moist tongue press against his own, sliding under his own abrasive appendage, shyly and self-effacing.

It was then when Sasuke realized that he has held in his breath, having inhaled sharply once - maybe too sharp- and his entire form tensed because of the electric jolts diffusing into his limbs, all the while his onyx orbs which never closed entirely caught her emerald hues fluttering squeezed shut and the Priestess shyly and almost humbly and very clumsily darted the tip of her tongue outside and flickered against his own.

And that sensation was utterly magnetic; the contact took both of them by surprise when the air became damp and hot just like in a tropical forest. This was so awkward. Just how thing could have escalated to something this... this _perilous_?

What was this woman trying to do? Sasuke realized that if he tried to rack his skull and comprehend his behavior around her and her mannerism, then he will go crazy.

So he did everything and acted purely based on instinct. He brushed his lips against hers somehow letting her know that he wasn't pulling back yet and let her rosy appendage follow his retracting one in a sort of a silent _acceptance._

Sasuke opened up his mouth more when he felt the Priestess slide her own tongue past his lower lip and span across his own as their profiles molded against one another again, mouths locked firmly and hotly. Honestly, he simply could not stop himself from smirking through their lip lock when he realized that this woman was inexperienced.

Was that her first kiss? He suspected as much but holly damn the beast in him was in hysterics right now, rolling on the floor and laughing with tears in his eyes. It amused him to no end who she clumsily moved her lips against his not able to follow a rhythm while he easily opened up his own and let her play with him.

Her tongue slide into his hot cavern timidly brushing past his set of pearl teeth and the way she barely let it skim into his throat like being afraid to touch anything because she will break something or do something wrong , this childish attitude made him smirk wider.

Oh God was he _that_ drunk if he found it to be amusing? Maybe he was indeed going insane just like everyone said. But at the same time there was a soupcon part of him who got quite annoyed by the response and this was the reason why he didn't kiss her clone to begin with.

Not because it want jus an illusion but because he understood that an unreciprocated kiss will make him look like an original rapist and someone dumb and untactful enough to _force_ a kiss when in reality he could have any other woman to shove her tongue down his throat with a mere look of his onyx eyes in their direction.

And this was the reason why he abruptly freed her hands and encircled her waist with his right one while his left entwined into her coral locks, cupping her nape and kept her head on a deeper angle so that he could deepen that kiss and allow her more space to taste him if this is what she was fervently trying to do.

Startled by that turnabout in positions, Sakura gasped lightly as Sasuke somehow made that unexplainable lip lock –which was already lasting more that she would have liked– quite intimate.

His arms encircled around her form tightly and possessively in a ghost of an affectionate embrace and she didn't want this but when her hands landed briskly atop the planes or his chiseled pectorals she was only able to give him the weakest push back; it looked like she was reciprocating rather than fighting back.

Sakura simply couldn't step back, slap him, protest or anything other than let out a broken moan against his lips again. It was physical and magnetized and very _irresistible_ what was happening between them now.

It was physically impossible to fight this Uchiha and deny his kiss, even if she set her mind on not to let him close to her again; she couldn't fight this back anymore.

Her body froze in a surge of pleasure that paralyzed her system. Her knees teetered, her limbs turned into hot caramel and the temperature between them filled with sparkles.

When he rolled his abrasive tongue around hers in ample slow circles, that delicious motion sent her body on **fire.**

How was it possible to feel this lightheaded and weak because of only one kiss delivered by an enemy who kept her a prisoner?

Sakura mimicked his moves and started to _taste_ him in slow timid strokes, tracing her tongue along his teeth that felt like porcelain on her skin, then tap against his own muscular organ sliding down then rolling upwards to span on the arcade of his mouth, turning back to lick on his lower lip experimentally seeing how every single taste and sense was enhanced when she caressed his mouth.

She will never forget his taste after this. Apart from the obvious tinge of sake, Uchiha was exquisite and delicious.

Sakura had never stumbled upon something similar to this; Sasuke had a peculiar fragrance of elements which were utterly impossibly to mix together - dark mint chocolate, fine cognac, a subtle cinnamon and peppermint aroma, fire, ocean and wine and it was intoxicating.

Nothing about that wet slick kiss that left her own lips bruised and glistening with their combined juices felt disgusting, on the contrary this was the best thing that she ever tasted. Maybe this is why she kept kissing him in that clumsy way –out of _curiosity._

Shockingly enough, he let her taste him back without trying to fight her for dominance or play a game of how deep he could span into her throat or vice versa, no. He just let her explore him without opposing her.

And she was doing exactly that, without pulling back from him, rolling her tongue across his lips, tangling with his own and trying to depict as many subtle aromas of his taste; he was amazing and luscious no matter what kind of shinobi he was.

Sakura had no idea how a kiss should feel or if all the men were this soft and delicious, but this man felt divine.

Then it hit her stunned mind like a hurricane –that this onyx eyed haired male has probably kissed many _other_ women before her and she was probably reacting in the same way like his implied hordes of fangirls which she was _not._

"Mnn-" And this is when her hands that were latched to his chest pushed him far from her as hard as she could and he almost stumbled backwards from her breaking the mesmerizing kiss. "-no, no!" Sakura managed to mewl to him and Sasuke almost lost it and smirked at her but of course she couldn't see his expression in the dim light of the room as half of his face was concealed by those luscious raven locks that fell against his temples and mashed with the onyx eyes in the same shade.

On the other hand, Sasuke could clearly see this woman's mien all too brightly because the moon's rays were falling on the side of the room that she was occupying while he felt into the darker part.

Those rippling silvery and diamond blue evanescent rays collided with her margarite skin and this is where amusement washed over his wicked system.

"Heh," His tone was two octaves richer and lower switch going between alto and bass in a shuddering chocolate way, reaching her between gasps of air. "when I told you that I can make you _beg_ for it, you should have known that words are not the only manner of communication Priestess."

Because it totally did not matched the untouched purity of her implied Priestess; oh no. Now her pearl white cheeks tinged with a deep blush spanning on her neck and her earlobes which were few any to combust.

Sakura was panting and gaping widely probably not used to being kissed and control the air supply and in conjunction to how those heart shaped sensual lips which got a darker shade by the way he nipped and suckle on the soft tissue, looked heavily exotic.

But the priceless thing about her atmosphere were definitely those emerald eyes. While they were usually shimmering in that avant-garde shade of sea emerald, now the gold crown around her irises sparkled with such an intensity that pierced the nebulous air in the room, scintillating, glimmering of so many emotions that coursed through her and of course, they were tinted virtuous and clouded by something that he clearly recognized because inwardly it mirrored his own - desire and lust.

He crushed everything about that electric kiss with the next cynic remark. So everything was just a sick mind game? To prove it to her that he would wrap any woman around his finger with just a kiss?

Just to break her mentally and physically he had to open up his skilled lips and prove it that he could spill both venom and honey from his mouth?

If Sakura was to describe the feeling she had when she realized that Sasuke was toying with her again by playing his favorite mind games, this one touch was resembling what she should have felt when being struck by his Chidori. Her chest clenched painfully and no air indulged into her desperate needs. She chocked on vacuum because no air entered her lungs.

What was worse about their situation were those tears that trembled at the corner of her orbs sweeping under her eyelashes. But she refused to cry in front of him, for him, _because_ of him. Maybe she felt a pang of sympathy and pity for him as Uchiha seemed so absorbed into his darkness, so lonely and reeling in despair but that was all.

Maybe he was beyond salvation. Yes Sakura was supposed to be a spiritual mentor, someone to clean and soothe hearts but not like this; she was not a concubine and definitely not _his_ concubine.

"Don't... " She deliberately pressed her palm against her lips and reluctantly whipped them as if she just tasted pure vice on her mouth and got rid of the taste, disgusted. " mistake me for one of your women. I am not a prostitute."

One of Sasuke's eyebrows crooked in mild confusion. What did she meant by– "One of my–" But instead of letting his mimic be self-explanatory, Sasuke smirked darkly at her gracing her view with a contemptuous curl of his lips. He didn't need to explain it to her everything now did he? "Why did you think that I brought you here for? Chasing after a woman is highly inconvenient for someone as busy as me, but having one right here within my reach saves me a lot of time and _trouble_."

Those missives hurt more than anything; more than they should hurt. "You are disgusting." She spat to him weakly and revolted and those quivers in her inflection didn't slip unnoticed.

"Good," Sasuke leaned forward to fan his warm mint against her face but this time he didn't touch her only stared her intently in the face, avoiding her eyes on purpose, his tempting smirk never vanishing off his face beaming of smugness and vanity. "for a moment I feared that you would say _delicious_ instead."

With that, Sasuke turned on his heel abruptly and stumbled into the kitchen, leaving a gasping Sakura behind to recover from shock and ponder about everything that has just happened.

"What was that? Oh my kami, I have– I got _kissed_ by Uchiha!" She lowered her trembling form on the floor again, raking her hands into her pink disheveled hair and freaking out. "On the _lips_!"

For the first time since she has been dragged in the house the wooden floor was on fire instead of freezing her like stepping on icicles.

Sakura let her face rest on her palm as she tried in vain to cease away everything that transpired between them and forget that kiss and his words, because everything about him, starting with his lush taste to the glace of his touch and derisive words, were welling inside her mind and lingered on her skin like a shadow; like a haunting memory that got stuck to her like a tattoo.

He managed to turn her world upside down in one single day.

* * *

.

.

.

* * *

The water felt cruel against his skin as Sasuke let the faucet run and fill his palms that cupped a generous amount of the liquid and let it cool his torpid nerves but it didn't help in the bit on the contrary.

He peeped at his profile in the half broken window glass as droplets of rain were spraying inside the kitchen wetting his face but he didn't care about that.

"Damn the dobe," For making him think about things that never interested him nor did they cross his mind and damn her for being so... So _annoying_. Heck, he couldn't find any other adjective that was more appropriate to describe her other than utterly annoying.

She annoyed him with her presence in his house; maybe he should chase her away off the house in the rain. Yeah that would be the most brilliant idea that Sasuke could come up with in this moment. So what if she run away? He still had his Jutsu cast on her and no one besides him knew how to break it so she still had to stay close to him if she wanted to be free.

Now that people have seen her in his presence, the Priestess lost credibility; she lost the _holy_ element, the spiritual fascination and the factor of intangibility. Now she has been reduced to his courtesan and no one would ever worship a whore. Her dignity and social status has been crushed when she appeared in public with him.

Wait... Was he losing his mind or was this alcohol speaking?

"Tsk," The last of the Uchihas clenched his jaw tightly until his temples exploded, cursing that woman with her exotic looks and that taste of dark cherries and honey to Hell and back.

"I will throw her ass outside in the storm, fuck that." Sasuke kept on cursing her as he fidgeted with unwrapping his cloak from around his shoulders tossing it aimlessly on the floor not caring where it landed.

He unzipped his blouse and let it ripple along his chiseled chest and arms falling on the floor without a sound as he stepped out of it. It was too hot in that house for his liking; he hated that warmth. He associated the lukewarm air with a soothing atmosphere which it clearly wasn't.

And sweating like a pig was definitely not among his favorite hobbies.

Remaining clad in only his comfortable ninja pants, removing his combat sandals from his feet, Sasuke fine-combed a hand through his messy hair and stepped back inside the living room, totally intending to gather that woman into his arms, slide the door open and throw her out of his home.

In the cold hard rain.

 _Cold_ just like his feelings. He didn't need soft lips, he didn't need moist honey fragrance or her luscious lips brushing against his own, he didn't need those petty useless sensations, this is so pathetic and so absurd.

Traipsing into the obscure chamber molding into the penumbras and rippling shadows, Sasuke found the woman sprawled on the floor and curled into a ball like a kitten.

He casually dragged his form closer to her, intending to haul her by the hand and throw her out of there, only… he heard those soft snooze coming from her parted lips signaling that she was fast asleep.

He dropped to his knee in order to make it easier to gather her into his arms and–

–he stupidly found himself looking at her face and sleeping form, forgetting why was he there in the first place. The moonlight fell along her form in a silvery ethereal glow making it looks like she was made of light and diamonds sewed on her skin; his eyes bore the imprint of her curves in his mind as they followed every contour of her curvaceous body –she was a violin made by the most skilled luthier.

The afterglow of her entire form was twinkling though the gravestone obscurity of his home. He wouldn't deny it because that would be idiotic and he was not an oblivious idiot in self-denial –she was _beautiful_. Divine even. A peregrine beauty with a golden heart and skillful shinobi training.

 _This is alcohol talking,_ his drunken mind kept on 'reasoning'. Just the alcohol and the need to escape from that nightmare if only for a second. For one moment–

"Oi," His husky voice beckoned as his hand is to squeeze her shoulder and shake her briefly. "get up and get out of my hom–"

Onyx orbs widened in puzzlement as a very sleepy Priestess curled her hands that were resting beside her cheek around his arm and wobbled closer to him, pressing his hand against her chest like she was hugging a Teddy Bear.

His mind had a complete shut down when she trapped him in a quite strong grip considering the fact that she was Chakra depleted and restrained but she didn't wake up. The fuck?

"Let go." He tried to slide his hand from her grip but she wouldn't budge, instead she only made him drop down on his knees and tower her as she nudged on his arm and pulled him to her chest.

Sasuke couldn't ignore how utterly frozen her hands were and he quickly realized her reason to cuddle with whatever warm of best she could grasp. For how cold and ruthless Sasuke was, his Uchiha blood was boiling and pumping life through his veins like their dominant element of fire sizzling into their system and he was no exception.

The two Chakra restraints were glowing with a pleasant purple hue around her wrists. _His_ Chakra. She looked like a giant firefly in the moonlight glowing forest. "God damn it, woman–" Now she was keeping _him_ as her prisoner, this little Priestess. Should he trash his hand forcibly, wake her up with a start and throw her outside without caring?

A roar of thunder parted the sky in half as Sasuke's onyx orbs shuffled to the window realizing that it was raining so bad that he could depict nothing in the distance anymore. Everything has been veiled in a mantle of blinding rain.

If he chased her out on that blitzing storm, she will surely get sick and if she died on him then his purpose wouldn't have been completed. He needed this woman alive so that he could make good use of her denotation.

But he didn't take her to baby sit her, Kami forbids. He didn't care if she died of coldness but he couldn't have her die either. What the heck? He will have to dust the entire house, fix the electricity and the fireplace but that will be done in the morning.

Now he couldn't even go and take a quick proper nap in one of the rooms because he will die suffocated under the mounts of dust and spider webs. And this woman with elf lineaments and the body of a goddess has just pressed her cheek on his thigh and slide her fingertips along his arm to wrap around his bicep.

And she was cool and felt _so_ good against his sweltering skin. Her softness was tickling him and made his entire body react. Yes Uchiha Sasuke was an insanely skilled dark rogue ninja whose penchant for revenge was only topped by his coldness but he was also a vigorous young _man_ and her skin was soft like a rose and she smelled sweetly like a garden of white lilies.

She did nothing to affect him mentally and spiritually, no because he was a dead man inside but physically it was a little bit challenging to resist her.

Unlike the other females who willingly threw themselves in his way being so concupiscent and so lascivious and too coquettish in their flirts, the Priestess on the other hand held that aura of angelic nobility and delicacy about her that was beyond attractive.

And Sasuke didn't back away from anything that was _challenging_. Plus, he became quite sick of the corny snobbish jokes that circulated within their association among their comrades about him being asexual of worse, interested in men and not women.

Which was so stupid. Uchihas were real _men_ and any woman would feel blessed to be with them and Sasuke of course, was no exception. Just because he wasn't publicly acted like a total manwhore didn't mean that he was less than a man than his comrades, on the contrary.

His head was killing him and even cell in his body felt worn out, so Sasuke stopped trying to pry his hand out of that woman's grip and simply leaned on the floor besides her, feeling thankful for the silence around.

Kami only knew how this man despised clamor and his friends were major blabbermouth idiots with few exceptions who talked way too much. He shut his overtired onyx orbs feeling his head pound and weigh like it was full of iron.

A soft shift beside him and an equally barely audible content sigh made him crook an orb open and look on his right and he swore that he managed to troll himself really hard. Because as soon as he made himself comfortable in the middle of his living room, Sakura scooped closer to him until her chest pressed on his bare arm.

Just what the hell was she doing? Was the Priestess such a heavy oblivious sleeper who turned into a complete pervert when she slept or was she pushing his already running low patience on purpose? No, she couldn't have done it deliberately because she didn't sought for any contact with him while she was awake, on the contrary she looked repulsed by him and for good reasons.

Then that figment gave him some very naughty evil ideas. Since Sasuke found it hard to sleep even if he consumed alcohol, he decided that he had some spare time to properly pay this woman back for how she reacted after he kissed her.

How rude to be so explicit in whipping her rips of his taste like he was some spoiled milk. Oh, and he didn't take her back from the stunt with her shadow clone and for leaving him with a very painful arousal throbbing painfully in his navel.

Smirking diabolically to himself, Sasuke rolled on his side coming face to face to the sleeping angel letting his orbs traipse along her figure, slowly, unhurriedly and observing every contour, every delineation of her body.

The velvet angry clouds reflected a bloody moon as it rained harder with every passing minute and the new light added a fine sensual touch sprinkling inside the room.

How would it be better to corrupt this woman if not by seeking inside her mind and ingrain the seed of corruption and immorality there without her to notice?

Sasuke wasn't that type of brainless moron who was only tough talk and no tangible ideas, oh no. He knew the game of shinobi and it was all about being subtle, deceiving and insidious.

That attitude from the forest was not characteristic to him. He was usually not this excessive in his gestures. And even though he was a troubled ninja –something that he didn't try to deny– Sasuke has always been commonsensical, prudent, serious and had restraint and self-discipline.

He smirked at the way Sakura seemed to be smiling in her sleep as she was stealing his body`s warmth. This will be fun.

As the Priestess was so adamant in seek contact with him in her slumber, then why not grant her this wish?

So Sasuke leaned forward, dipping down his profile to come in level with her and softly and with a grace that only an Uchiha would possess, Sasuke let the tip of his tongue flicker over her lips that were parted just enough for air to enter her lungs and skimmed along the contour of her lower one, barely touching her and just enough to tickle the lush tissue and incite her.

It took all of his forbearance not to burst out laughing hysterically when Sakura wiggled her nose and closed her mouth around his tongue. Her own lips tapped against his own as she was gingerly nipping on his tongue into her mouth, without being conscious of what she was doing.

Sasuke could feel her even soft breaths warming his own lips and he would admit it that it was very arousing. Occasionally she moved her lips upon his own, not even registering that she was entrapped in a bizarre _kiss_ with him. She was completely relaxed and serene.

And this is why he didn't stop there. Oh no, true to his word Sasuke will make her beseech for his touch. Softly so as not to wake her up, his finger slide under the ribbon of her kimono that was hanging loose around her waist from their encounter as she didn't have time to change clothes and fix herself, and he expertly undone it, letting it slide on the floor.

Sasuke pulled back from her lips as her eyelids twitched once like she missed the contact, while his hand brushed the fold of her garment off her chest and tucked it around her shoulder.

He knew from her clone that she wore nothing underneath and immediately an yielding mound fell loose from its binding. Onyx orbs followed the way the contour of her breast swelled in the form of half of a heart shape remembering how soft it felt under his palm.

Her skin was so supple and glace to the touch. Sasuke couldn't help himself; he inched forward to the inviting lucent of her skin and mindful not to stir her from the slumber he flickered his tongue over the incredibly soft nipple, clasping it with his lips, feeling the bundle tauten immediately reacting to his touch.

She felt and tasted nothing like the clone; the real her was beyond delicious. Her skin brushed his mouth like lotus petals sprinkled on velvet; gently, he suckled on the luscious bud sensually bobbling his lips up and down it, tasting how yielding her nacre skin was. His lips tickled pleasurably as he encircled them around the crippled skin of her rose ivory areola taking more of her breast into his mouth.

Sasuke let his palm cup the supple mound with his left hand and kneaded it with the back of his palm, mirroring the same motion of his tongue as he trailed a fine line of hot saliva along its rounded contour, rolling it along her chest as much as her skin was revealed form under the white kimono, flickering occasionally upon the perked up nipple which stood proud and hard defying gravity and begging him to do things to her that her mouth will never utter.

He threw a fugitive look over her face that was muzzled into the bone of his shoulder and a mirthful expression washed over her mien, but miraculously she hadn't woken up yet, probably perceiving it all as a dream.

Oh yeah, she was clearly _not_ enjoying this, Sasuke noted sarcastically.

He couldn't decide whether to let his lips or fingers stain her with his knavish corrupt colors, but he decided that her nectar taste was bringing him a pleasurable dizziness and an oblivion stronger than the alcohol and that liquid couldn't satiate him like this.

So Sasuke encircled the yielding nipple that graced his view like a rosy tulip bud that was yet to bloom with his forefinger and let his thumb rub her gently, probing the friction and how elastic her breast was, as it was molding and pulsating under his touch, fitting into his cupping palm like it was meant to belong to him.

He maneuvered his body so that he shifted lower until his head came in the same level as her lean stomach and pressed his lips against her sternum, trailing them sensually lower, planting butterfly sloppy kisses against her skin, passing the slim sinuous muscles of her tummy all the way to her belly button, tasting her thirstily on his tongue.

A soft moan escaped her lips as she fidgeted in her slumber and scooped closer to press her body against him, clearly _enjoying_ the feeling of his moist hot lips caressing her skin.

Frankly, Sasuke had absolutely zero idea of how should he touch her and where to let his wicked tongue toy with her body and taunt her, but apparently his body did known what his mind didn't and what it wanted so he listened to only that part of him which seemingly knew better.

She was delicious and delicate; the pallor of her skin had an ethereal nacre luminosity, being imbued with a floral-fruity perfume. Blood was boiling like a furnace into his vessels surging along his limbs and spine, amassing into his navel where a heavy knot throbbed and tightened in a reeling constriction.

 _It's just the alcohol's effect_ , his mind desperately sought for a source of explanation for all this quenching thirst. She was his prisoner, someone to pour all his darkness on, show her all the pain that he has seen, all the nightmares that haunted his dreams, show her how stupid her assumed role was and how foolish her ideologies were.

Sasuke couldn't stop his lips from traipsing and smooth along the curve of her waist, coming up to stroke and kiss their way up to her breast, in perfect harmony of how his fingers played with her hard diamond nipple.

More indecipherable sounds hummed from her parted lips as Sasuke let his moist tongue return from the valley of her lean abdomen and then head back to her mound and his lips became torrid and moist. His hot saliva combined with the radiance of her skin as it glistened on her opaline skin.

His mind teetered in a blissful oblivion and just for this moments when he basically touched her without any consent from her sleeping form, taking advantage of her vulnerability and impossibility to defend herself and preserve her modesty from him, he allowed himself to drop his guard down.

Every inch of her glacé skin tasted and felt like ambrosia. She was delicious to the senses, fine, soft, yielding and luscious, tasty and incredibly sweet. Sasuke's own breath became ragged in response to how her body seemed to become incandescent, reacting to his touch.

Droplets of burning perspiration pickled along the cords of his neck and chest while Sasuke kept on syphoning wet kisses on her chest.

And before he could stop himself, a calloused palm glided along the meandering outline of her waist, kneading on the rounded swell of her hip bone where the touch of womanhood became more sensual and it descended down lower to the front of her feminine curves as they formed a triangle mound between her thighs.

His fingers pressed against the cleft of her feminine curves, rubbing against the ticklish soft pink curls sprinkled along her folds; the warmth of her body, the silkiness of her moist naked form drove him completely mad.

Sasuke almost lost it completely when Sakura let out an extremely explicit moan in reaction to how his lips pulled and massaged her nipple tasting her expertly and sensually, while his hand glided lower along her body, kneading and stroking her, slick skin throbbing against his fingers and knuckles.

Her inhales took a sharper resonance; her pulse was pumping under his lips and fingers signaling that her body didn't need her mind to enjoy the attention.

His member twitched painfully as it pressed against the scraping material of his pants and her warm body pressed against his own and mewling into his touch was not helping his status, on the contrary.

 _Just what was he thinking about?_

The reason was simple: he wasn't thinking at all, he simply acted. Just like a mindless creature, he kept on searching for something and she seemed to satiate his thirst but _only_ this was still not enough.

Sakura arched her back more as she pushed her chest into his mouth, burning Sasuke with her warmth, praising the motion of his hand which was rubbing her moist folds picking up his pace and adding to the pleasurable friction as he pressed herder against the core of her pleasure. His digits were getting slicker as juices started to pool from the pits of her belly and seeped against his palm.

"Fuck–" Sasuke cursed her under his breath for how she reacted to the seemingly sweet dream that her conscious was conjuring in resonance to the body`s blissful state as his ear glued to her chest and he listened to the strings of her heartbeat jitter in her ribcage. Her heart was ticking so fast that it was a miracle that she was still sleep.

The Uchiha stopped his ministration for a moment just to listen to the music of her body, as his ragged pants were torrid and betrayed how aroused he was by what he has done and he realized that it was a grave mistake from him.

His hand was molding perfectly against every crevice and contour of her body and he lighted her up like a candle, flickering and fluttering by his touch alone. Even though his mind would have no problems in killing her right on the spot, the _man_ in him desired the woman in _her._

But... He won't be the same fool from the woods; No, she will wake up from her slumber oblivious to what happened, albeit her body will send contradicting signals to her mind.

A Priestess' virtue meant more than just restraining from any concupiscent thoughts. It meant perfect balance of mind and body. If he wished to being her down to sin, then Sasuke knew that he had to break this harmony and her body was the easiest prey from the two halves of her spirit.

Reluctantly, Sasuke took a hold of himself and unglued his body from hers, covering her form with the cloth that she wore, wrapping the ribbon back to the original form as if nothing has ever happened, slide his hands from her form and stood up, panting heavier than normal in a way that was resembling a challenging battle with a formidable opponent.

A slight frown immediately creased her beautiful visage as Sakura lost his touch and warmth and her palm immediately tapped the empty place that he has occupied, searching for him.

"Damn you Priestess." Why the heck was she looking for him? That was a chimera; his warmth that she felt, the grace of his arousing touch was not real. He was _nothing_ like that, it was not the real him

Sasuke fine–combed a hand through his maze of lush raven locks pulling his bangs back from poking his eyes, turning on his heel and heading to the front door sliding it open and with shaky hands, he exited that house, padding to the front porch and looking at the cold hollow rain.

No wonder that the emerald eyed Priestess felt apprehensive to be in this place; the heavy rain that fell like a cascade from Heaven enhanced the depressing panorama of this ghost district that was once full of life and so prosperous.

The diamond hard droplets mixed with the soil, washing the muddy streets; the air around was cold, thick and sinister, almost suffocating. The solitary vista highlighted the sketch of a grave and even breathing normally again felt demanding and eerie.

The contours of abandoned houses looked like silhouettes of demons lurking from the shadows. Those were memories entrapped in time; this is a godforsaken place where time didn't pass. This is the only part of the Leaf Village that has been forgotten by everyone even by the time itself. Nothing has changed except for the silence around. Now it weighed more than the memories of pain.

It was beyond sinister and disheartening. The mournful emptiness reflected the one into his chest. Onyx orbs gazed into the distance as Sasuke exhaled deeply, shifting the door behind him as he slide his left feet in front of the right one, stepping into the somber rain.

Immediately his silky ebony spikes latched to his temples and neck as the weeping of clouds drenched him, but he didn't care in the bit. His feet moves diligently in the same even cadence, one step after another during the time that his prints immersed into the damp terra firma; the pavements felt that same, they looked the same as the avenues that led to his childhood memories.

He went through this before, it was a melancholic deja vu. His heart twitched painfully, his eyes remembered every single detail –this was the first time when he stepped inside the Uchiha district after he run from the hospital as a child.

The duct tape wrapped around the front gates warning the passerbyes not to traipse inside was still there. His tears as a little child immersed into the rain, and the memory of that little Sasuke overlapped over his form that was currently haunting the empty town, but unlike then, his eyes were void of liquid, of feelings, or impotency, of sorrow and grief or any sentiment.

Now they were hard, calloused and unforgiving, calculating, contemplating and powerful. A strength that he didn't possess back then.

The child who once lost everything, Sasuke _did_ have feelings. Now the man that he has become, possessed a formidable power that he lacked then to stop the massacre. He could only have one of those attributes, one or the other and he chose the former.

He settled for power.

The last Uchiha stopped in front of the imposing building of the former Konoha _Police_ Force as the Uchiha Crest still stood symbolic on the tall building. Sasuke remembered clearly that his childhood dream welled in being part of the Police Forces just like his father.

"Hn." His fists clenched into tight balls as a deep frown washed over his handsome figure. All the blood that amassed and pounded into the bulge that formed into his pants caused by Sakura's taste and softness pressed into his palm and lips now bolted up to his mind and exchanged those erotic images of her with the immense hatred that he felt for _everyone_ who was at fault for his family's downfall.

But... He was not that fool rushed genin anymore, no. Now the grown up Sasuke learned the notion of _patience_ and reasoning calmly, plotting and outsmarting his opponents. "If my family couldn't even make it into the Council, then _I_ will _avenge_ them by taking over the Village itself."

A violent bolt of lightning hit somewhere close to where Sasuke's shadow fell on the ground illuminating his handsome profile as he stared at the abandoned building in complete silence.

He experienced the same endless queasy feeling in his chest similar to riding an elevator –that drowning desolation and blankness.

Sasuke swiveled on his heel and headed to the exit of the district. He would be damned if he stepped into the house where the Priestess was sleeping because Kami only knew what other stupid ideas he might get. That frozen rain grazed his alabaster skin and tamed down the fire within his body, calming his sweltering skin and the raging hormones.

* * *

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"Mmmnn–" A tongue washed over her lips as her throat and mouth felt dry of fluids and extremely thirsty. "–what–" A pair of emerald orbs fluttered open lackadaisically and a lazy yawn escaped her lips.

Sakura outstretched her limbs once as she woke up from a very warm and pleasant slumber. For a moment her mind forgot the clamor of the yesterday`s events, being tricked by how she felt surprisingly refreshed and relaxed.

Then she remembered exactly _where_ she was and immediately she collected herself from the floor and rose to her feet almost losing balance as a wave of dizziness hit her forehead and blurred her vision. "Oh!" The rose haired Priestess rubbed her groggy jadeite eyes as she took a quick perusal of her surroundings.

She was in _his_ house. Now she remembered everything. But– "What is this odd feeling?" Something that she couldn't explain was tattooed on her skin. The reminisce of some feelings that she didn't know of lingered on her body and immediately her hands traveled to her clothes that were still safe on place, neatly folded and covering her modesty, but at the same time she felt– transgressed, invaded but extremely _good_?

 _What the Hell?_

"I am… _hot_." Even though the room felt even colder than before because of the heavy rain that poured for the entire night and washed the sizzling air, her body was warm and felt ticklish and oversensitive, similar to how it would have been if she would have been sleeping under the sun on a hot July starry night, which was ridiculous, for she was in the _enemy's_ home.

Before she tried to reminisce about the course end events, Sakura had to quench down that burning hotness of her throat and find some water to drink. She made her way to what she considered to be the kitchen, seeing that it was still early in the morning when she aroused from the deep slumber and her cheeks tinted with a rose hue. "H–Hello? Hey?" She called softly, trying to locate the ebony haired owner seeing that it was _too_ quiet around.

Maybe the onyx eyed owner was already gone. Of course, he probably had business to attend, evil things to plot, people to kill, places to destroy and enemies to get rid of.

Because this is what original respectful villains did, right?

Her light steps slide like a dove`s soft feathers, traipsing soundless and lithe inside the kitchen as Sakura stared at the faucet, debating whether she should twist it or not. She did and surprise hit her when crystalline clear water sprayed from it almost wetting her clothes.

She leaned forward and tapped her rips against the stream, taking generous gulps of water. She almost moaned in delight when it cooled down her sensed and this is when she almost choked on it, remembering Sasuke's _kiss_ from last night.

Her fingers went to her wet lips drumming along her lower petal as images hit her along with his masculine scent, that peculiar fine cognac taste, the fire in his charcoal hues, his lissome lips massaging over her own.

That bastard stole her first kiss and what was the worst thing was that she had a moment of reciprocating it. Tears started to pool into her jade orbs upon realizing that she had a moment of _weakness_ that he fully exploited.

Yes, Uchiha has been drunk –a state of mind that surprised her as she did not expect to see that face of him– but she on the other hand was sober and he didn't quite force himself on her, on the contrary, it was more like testing and probing each other and that scared her senseless.

Plus, Sakura had the weirdest and wildest dream last night because unlike all her previous dreams, this one has been dare she say _erotic_. A man who was made by the embers of fire, lightning, and shadows has touched her in an intimate way and she could still get pleasurable tingles all over her body when trying to conjure those feelings.

Hasn't it been for the fact that she was positive that she has been sleeping, Sakura would have sworn that it was all real. This is how incandescent those touches felt along her body and the flicker of light hasn't completely evanesced. She was _pure_ in both body and mind; untouched by anyone and she didn't have any experience of such sort because she had lived in her Shrine alone, far from the sin and temptation.

 _So why now?_ Was it because of Uchiha? Has her clone's memories affected her so much?

It was a high possibility. She knew his game. The ebony haired demon wanted to corrupt her and ridicule her and then use her to win the battle of fear with the peasants. But still–

There was a mysterious feeling pooling into the pits of her belly that she could cease away and she didn't know what that was. She never felt like this before from just a dream. Plus... she had quite a weird feeling of being sticky down _there_ and that puzzled her and made a blush spread along her face and neck.

This was so shameful and inappropriate for a Priestess!

When she realized that she was alone in a foreign abandoned house, starving and without any Chakra to mold, outcast at the outskirts of the Leaf Village with no contact from her Slug or Kakashi or Tsunad–

"–Whoa!" She almost jumped in surprise when the familiar pounding of metal against wood rung from outside of the house and she quickly run to the closest window to take a peek outside. "What is going on?" Sakura almost fell backwards when she saw exactly who it was.

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"Oi, bastard, " An obstreperous flamboyant boyish voice rung from the porch as the owner was busy fixing the tatami door. "why don't you have Yamato-taichou handle this? Man I swear that this is tiresome!" The blonde Uzumaki yawned as he stretched his limbs above his head, rubbing his nape while looking at the stoic Uchiha who mowed the lawn since the roots and the huge vegetation created a mini-jungle from his back garden.

So far, Sasuke has properly ignored the blonde Uzumaki all the morning, like he did most of the time. He didn't need to hear what that idiot had to say because most of the time it was about Ramen or his personal life and last time he listened to Naruto's piece of advice, he ended up kissing his prisoner.

Which was beyond stupid. Now that he was sober and grumpier than usual, Sasuke was one step away from slapping himself for the stupidity. "Teme! I'm hungry," He heard Naruto moan for the millionth time. "let's go get some Ramen. My stomach threatens to sue me if I don't feed him some decent food!"

Sasuke wanted to snort at him for that mention. Since when was Ramen branded as _decent_ food? Wait, why was the blonde dobe here again?

Oh yeah, as Sasuke spent the night outside in the rain, lingering on the gate from the entrance of the old Uchiha district gazing absentmindedly to the sky, Naruto was the first idiot to stumble there looking for him.

First, he bombarded him with all sorts of questions, then he whined that they needed to take care of the Village's administration, then he chased his ass all the way back home because Sasuke grew annoyed of his mewls deciding to get rid of him, but of course the dobe was a persistent nitwit who just didn't know when to give up.

Because annoying the fuck out of his best friend was his _Nindo_ –his ninja way.

"PI, Sasuke–Teme, `ya sure that you want to stay here alone?" Naruto peeped at his laconic friend, who was plucking the roots, resisting the urge to laugh at him.

"This place is depressing." No kidding, when Naruto stepped into the old Uchiha district he felt the hair at his nape stand erect. There was such a vile vibe in the atmosphere and it looked like there was always heavy clouds lingering above that place keeping the funeral touch untrained and it freaked him out.

Why would someone deliberately want to stay there all alone was beyond him. But then again, this was Sasuke and nothing about this man made sense. "Will you shut up already Naruto? My damn head hurts like hell." They have been working to fix his old home for two hours already but Sasuke refused to step inside where _she_ was resting.

"I bet you it does since you have been drinking like a sailor last night." Well that was only half of the reason for his head ache because he other reason was because of the Priestess.

"How would you know that?" Because he was positive that the idiot will be visiting that prisoner that he got the hots for.

Naruto grinned at him snickering in an elfin way that made Sasuke frown at the blonde. "Kiba and Suigetsu were on the same bar that you so conveniently hit last night without calling your best pals to keep your sulking _Highness_ company and they have seen you get shitfaced of sake. Seriously Teme, if you have _sentimental_ problems know that alcohol is not the answer,"

Naruto stretched his forefinger to him like a reputed Professor trying to sound as serious and professional as a true marital counselor, while Sasuke had no reaction whatsoever, simply staring at his friend.

"simply go chase the girl like all the other _normal_ men do, instead of _emo_ -ing and turning into a closet alcoholic. By the way, you missed some roots behind the Koi fish pond and man they look like the den of an original caveman."

Sasuke blinked once slowly, glaring daggers at the blonde. The sun started to shine and the temperature was humid and hot. Naruto's grin only grew wider resizing that he hit a sensitive nerve. "What the fuck are you talking about, you moron?"

Was his friend that oblivious when it came to romance? "Why did you drink last night? This is so unlike you Bastard. You always refuse to hang out with us because you are such a stuck up prick."

Every single one of them minus Sasuke and Shikamaru went in the town to find a good place to get drunk and most of them went for the brothels since women came conveniently along the overflowing glasses of sake.

"Why do you care? Are you my mother?" Sasuke absolutely loathed to be questioned about his actions. His private life was no one's concern. This is why he _especially_ hated Naruto –because he talked nonstop and always about things that Sasuke didn't want to hear.

"Let me guess," The cerulean eyed Uzumaki ignored Sasuke's snide remark and went on pissing him off. "it can't be about the Village because this is already under our control and this sort of thing have never bothered you in the past, which only leads us to what happened _after_ we conquered it. So… where is _she_?"

Sasuke's chiseled shoulders tensed when Naruto brought that woman into the conversation. He was cleaning the pond not because he was interested in the aesthetics of the place but because it was his mother's favorite and he cherished her memory deeply. Naruto didn't miss his brisk reaction. "She as in... who?"

Naruto rolled his azurite orbs at Sasuke's lame attempt to play dumb. Avoiding his question meant that he was correct in his surmise. "The Priestess of Tea who else? Where is she? I haven't seen her in one of the cells but I know for sure that you abducted her."

Sasuke remained silent already feeling his fist itch to turn around and punch something with blonde hair. Naruto of course, was a pro at reading his silent demeanor.

His orbs flew wide when the realization hit him like a speeding trunk on the highway. "Wait, don't tell me that you brought her here with you in _this_ house?" Was Sasuke serious or still drunk?

Again Sasuke remained silent as a grave debating whether to throw Naruto out of his property. But he needed the dobe to help him clean that house otherwise he won't finish anytime soon and he knew that he absolutely needed to drag his ass to the Hokage Tower, summon his closest men and decide what to do next and appoint them in strategic points so that the village won't collapse.

As if on cue, Naruto's cerulean orbs shifted from his unresponsive raven hair friend to one of the windows. And what he saw almost made his breath hitch halfway his throat as he choked on his own spit. The hammer almost slide from his hand as his mouth dropped to the ground in complete awe. "T–Teme–"

Hearing the sharp volteface in Naruto's buoyant tone going soft almost whispering the words to him, Sasuke turned to look at the idiot who looked like he has seen aliens landing on the rooftop.

His fine eyebrows slightly fetched up as he too gazed at whatever Naruto was gasping at finding his expression confusing. And when he look up following his line of vision and gazed to the window, he promptly rolled his obsidian orbs immediately returning to his chores.

For the love of–

"–Teme is she the one... Holly damn she's _beautiful_! Truly beautiful just like an angel!" Never as in _never_ in his life has Naruto encountered such a stunning woman and this was a cruel understatement. That was the famous Priestess of Tea?

Because oh my Kami, she was ravishing!

In fact she was so beautiful that she couldn't be real. Her skin was glowing like an embroidery of pearls, her features were so perfectly balanced with her regal aura of a Crown Princess, the high checks framed her visage in such an exquisite sweetness, the oval face and almond shaped eyes in the vibrant color of emerald sea and her exotic locks collided with her beauty, making her look like a nymph.

Everything about her atmosphere and physiognomy, every shade varying from pastel rose to ivory of her features complexion, every delineation, her flawless gracious profile, the mesmerizing shimmering look in her eyes, the aura of ineffable, the feminine touch was turning her breathtaking beauty to _arts_ ; she was musical, poetical and ethereal.

For five good minutes as she too was staring at them, Naruto couldn't peel his eyes off her.

"Are you done catching flies, you nitwit? Hurry the fuck up, I don't have all the day." Of course that Sasuke knew that Naruto's reaction was justifiable.

He too has been surprised to find out that the Priestess was so young and so splendid but unlike him, the Uchiha was hardly one to be fazed by something so trivial and frivolous as physical appearance and this is exactly the reason why he loathed superficial people who drooled at _his_ looks.

"I had no idea that you have brought her here in your old home, Teme. Wait," His friend chose the abandoned Uchiha compound to bring the Priestess of Tea and forced her to with him in a completely deserted town that was on the outskirts of the Leaf Village.

Naughty ideas started to form in the blonde's mind. "bastard _bastard_ bastard, it has never dawned on me that you were _that_ kind of bastard, hi hi hi."

Sasuke's scowl deepened on his handsome figure upon hearing Naruto grinning like an evil goblin with wicked thoughts. What an idiot. "What do you mean by _that_ type? What kind of man am I?" Like that wasn't obvious.

"Muuuuushy! You abducted the Village's sweetheart and brought you to your home because you wanted intima– Auch!" A slap against his nape almost had Naruto bang the hammer against his knuckles. "What freaking Hell?!"

"How can you sprout such nonsense everytime you open up your damn mouth you knucklehead?" There he went again filling his mind with imbecile assumptions just like yesterday. Naruto was dangerous and so was his stupidity and not to mention contagious. "Shut up."

"Why are you so oversensitive, Teme? Because you know I am _right_? Wait... Was she here _last_ night? And if _she_ was inside then why have I found you _outside_ in the rain looking like a drenched _cat_?"

Has Sasuke run away from the house because the Priestess was there? Naruto has pursed his lips and tried his best not to burst out laughing which he didn't succeed because his shoulders trembled and tears have gathered into his frizzy orbs.

The ebony haired Uchiha took a moment to reflect whether it would be wise to grant the idiot an answered or simply punch him in on the face to alleviate some tension. He ransacked the raven locks away off his onyx eyes backward, exhaling deeply once visibly pulling back from not lose his cool.

"This woman," Naruto stopped hitting the nail in the head as his hammer froze midway hearing his friend's stern tone." Is sticky like _glue_."

The blonde slammed the hammer hard against his digits dropping it on his foot and wailing in pain. "Auch, what he flying fuck!"

Before Naruto had the chance to blabber about Sasuke's retort which made absolutely zero sense, his friend pushed past him and dashed inside the house, groaning to the gasping Uzumaki. "Finish this and let's go."

 _What the heck is wrong with him?_ It was all that suffused through Sasuke's mind as he entered the house; for a moment, he has been too absorbed by those thoughts to remember that he wasn't _alone_ in the house

Suddenly everything seemed ten times more annoying than normal. He came to his old family compound to revive their memory; to restore his clan and their symbolism in the eyes of the Village, to make their spirits come to life from where they have been left to be forgotten and perish in the wind.

He came here for a certain reason. But now he pondered whether it was a good idea or not. He was touchy and fidgeting and this was so uncharacteristic for someone like him. Were the old feelings affecting him so much?

As he went upstairs to take a quick shower and rush to the Hokage tower and check the prisoners and if his friends didn't burn the place down or turned it upside down, a nightingale voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

"–Ahm," It took everything in his willpower not to let it show how goddammit pissed off he was instead, Sasuke simply half turned to the source of that soft tune finding the owner quite distressed and looking at his back with a completely other type stare that the one she had when they fought. "D-Do you have –ahm– something to eat?"

He fought the urge to roll his eyes at her but he didn't because she won't force him to act so out of character in her vicinity anymore; instead, he slightly frowned and snarled at her in that menacing voice that made her spine shiver at the husky resonance.

"I'm not running a damn restaurant in here." Great, first hour in the morning and she was already being so annoying.

He might have been drunk last night and a little –too much– in a… ehm… more _playful_ mood, but now he was sober, grumpy and touchy and he didn't have the nerves for this; for her, for those feelings, for everything pestering that came along and latched to her presence.

She visibly recoiled at the rough inflection of his voice. What was wrong with him? He wasn't this miffed yesterday and not even when she tricked him with her clone was he this calloused. An awkward silence cast upon them and the suddenly the airy room felt ten times smaller, closing in to her in a claustrophobic sensation.

Sakura cast her orbs down from his masculine profile, fighting the embarrassing blush that threatened to tinge her rosy cheeks, because staring at him like an idiot was something impolite and wrong.

Seeing her odd mannerism and the unexpected flip of personality, Sasuke fully turned around to face the much petite woman in white, crossing his hands upon his masculine chest, openly and rudely staring down to her.

Problem was, she hasn't expecting him to be outside running errands with an unfamiliar blonde person helping him and half naked.

And it wasn't like Sakura was a perverted lecherous woman, but she has been living alone, far from temptation and sin in her Shrine where she busied herself with praying and cleansing her mind form impure thoughts.

And when she caught the sight of his chiseled form, she couldn't help the explicit indecent things that sprung inside her mind.

So she averted her eyes in shame, mumbling under her breath when she felt the shift in the air as his form fully turned to assess her. "So… are you going to starve me to death then?" Sakura asked weakly getting no response from the taciturn Uchiha.

Sasuke was busy debating as why in the world has a sudden pang tapped his chest upon seeing how she was playing with the hem of her dirty kimono refusing to look at him and being all shy and uncomfortable.

He couldn't be _caring_ about her now could he? Because he didn't. This was absurd. This is all because of Naruto and his illogical ideas he was sure of that. "What should I be doing here then?" Alone in this big lonely house. She couldn't stay here, she had to guard the treasures nested within the confinements of her shrine. Who knew who might stumble across it and find what he wasn't supposed to find?

"Anything is fine as long as you don't kill yourself because I need you _alive_." Emerald orbs flew to his face expecting him to smirk or do something more familiar but no.

He just stared at her, muscular arms still crisscrossed upon his chest enhancing those rippling carved pectoral and biceps which were wrapping his limber silhouette and Sakura couldn't help herself but stare at him.

She almost missed the rude things he said when her jade eyes flew to his waist as his black pants slide low on his form, _impossibly_ low around the belt of his carved hips, where his defined V muscles run deliciously low down to his–

Her earlobes were pickling and turned tomato red as her eyes flew back to his face finding him slightly frown at her. She gulped audibly once and focused on his rude retort and the derisive way of saying what he has just said without even faltering.

"What?! I won't tarnish the gift of life that has been granted to me just because you hold me as a prisoner in here! How disrespectful to be thinking like this about me!"

No Sasuke didn't give a flying damn about her philosophic Zen attitude; what incited him was her feminine curvaceous body and her goddamned syrupy soft taste that plagued him even now. "You are so _annoying_." Sasuke bluntly told her but it was true. He had no idea what to do or how to act around this pink haired lady.

Was she... _Checking_ him _out_? And she called herself a Priestess. He didn't know whether to be pissed off at the libertine attitude or be amused that his plan was working.

Of course, unlike the other females, she was trying to moor on her dignity and deny it which was indeed a good change in scenery and made the game even more appealing. But he was not in the proper mood to deal with her. He had more important and pressing matters to handle than one troublesome woman.

"And so are you!" Sakura did her best to hold his intense glare, looking deeply into his onyx eyes because it was safer than trying to steal another glance to his Roman statue like sculpted anatomy. "And you are being bipolar too! What am I supposed to be doing here when starving and being treated like a dirty caged animal? " He didn't even let her have a decent bath, damn it.

"You can," Bored obsidian orbs took a fugitive peek around the house then returned to her slightly fuming face seeing that her pearl cheeks filled with red roses comically. clean this house while you are at it." The Uchiha simply shrugged at her like he couldn't care less, turning around and heading downstairs before she had the chance to protest or give a snide remark to his derisive order. He left her by herself to gasp in the middle of the room, fuming.

"I am not your _maid_ Uchiha!"

Naruto, who hanged his body against the railing eavesdropping at their conversation from the first floor had his cerulean orbs widened at his friend when he took in the way Sasuke basically stomped on the stairs and had the scowl of the century creasing his handsome face.

Those two were– He covered his mouth with his hands as his cheeks inflated and more cackles threatened to erupt. Not only his prisoner was strong enough to trick him and fight him back, but she was also not afraid to talk back to him instead of flirting with him like the other females.

Oh man, things were getting interesting. This is why Sasuke was so exasperated and his mannerism was more splenetic than normal. It was because she had an attitude that he couldn't decipher.

"Why are you staying there like the idiot you are Naruto?" The ebony haired Uchiha barked at his friend storming outside the house as he put on his blouse, zipping it halfway while passing him by.

The menacing aura around his form was palpable and magnetizing. This only made Naruto burst out laughing at his friend as he trailed after Sasuke`s belligerent shadow. "Stop fucking laughing."

It was crystal clear that Sasuke was on the verge of snapping at him and this was even more entertaining. Anyone who managed to get this male riled up was on Naruto's good grace. So he quickly dragged his shirt on his toned form turned his head over his shoulder to find the dazzling Priestess peep through the window.

Naruto grinned widely at her and waved his hand in a friendly gesture to the emerald eyed woman and joggled after his taciturn friend with anger management problems, still snickering behind his back.

He couldn't wait to tell Suigetsu and Kiba about this so they could laugh at Sasuke and make fun of him together.

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He didn't stop to acknowledge anyone along the way, only kept his obsidian orbs in front of him all the times until he reached the door and roughly twisted the knob and pushed it open wide until it slammed the wall beside, barging it the office like an electric storm, where Juugo, Shikamaru and –regrettably enough– Kiba waited for their leader to grace them with his stoic presence.

They all flinched back when they sensed the murderous vibrations around Sasuke`s aura and breathed the look on Sasuke's face as the Uchiha encircled the office desk, threw himself on the seat and set his smoldering orbs on the desk where all the files and a scrolls have been neatly sorted, understanding that Shikamaru didn't need too many words to get his job done.

"Speak. " He addressed to one in particular, not that his mind was set on those tasks to begin with, but he forced himself to think about something else than how annoying the Priestess was.

Shikamaru, looking as spiritless and fatigued as always, crooked an eyebrow up at his laconic growl surmising that something was irritating the Uchiha but shrugged it off quickly being disinterested in whatever was troubling his friend and opened up half of his mouth to brief him.

"Since you so conveniently killed or threw all the ones who were in charge of the administrative tasks in jail, then we need someone else to take care of all of the tasks in their place that if we want to have this Village still run and not collapse or go bankrupt in less than twenty four hours."

The Nara prodigy`s equally blasé and disinterested inflection resonated with the same disinterest, but they knew that he was being professional and serious.

Sasuke simply stared at the files that Shikamaru placed before him tucking on a random one and frowning hotly at the paper.

What a... _drag,_ that if he was to quote the Nara genius. But he has been right the situation that they have created when killing Sarutobi and attacking the Leaf was their own fault thus they had to handle it alone.

"Then we are going to divide the tasks among us." Easier said than done since none of them actually had experience in how to properly run a village but then again, they weren't considered geniuses for nothing.

"Cool," Kiba smirked at the Uchiha before him making all the orbs fly on him as he shot up from one of the chairs and planted his hands on the desk, making some files bounce and fly off the wooden surface. "then, _I_ am going to be the _new_ Hokage!"

Before Sasuke could concoct a very suggestive retort for Kiba`s declaration, a violent explosion blasted into the distance coming from the grand half destroyed gates of the Leaf, making the building shake at the unexpected earthquake.

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 **A/N:**

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For some reason, I am in the mood of only updating this story and I don't know why exactly. Maybe I have been too much time in AU stories and I needed a change in scenery or it is because this is not one of my major projects, hence the short chapters.

Anyways, I am still amazed that you guys like this story since it is clearly not one of my most complex projects. Or am I the only one thinking like that?

Ok, time for some words of gratitude for you guys, because as always you are not less than amazing.

Thank you, **naelyn** , I hope you liked this chapter as well.

Don't you worry, **anime1angel** , I will definitely bring on Kakashi sensei as well as many other familiar characters into the picture. It is just that I am giving them other roles than in the manga, but they will definitely show themselves into this story. I am trying to focus on their developing relation but for now I am keeping them confused and still reticent about how they feel since I don't want Sakura to jump on Sasuke from the very beginning and vice versa. I will try my best to imagine how the Leaf will look like in the hands of Sasuke and his pals. This will be fun. I hope I won`t stray from his character. Thank you for the support, it means a lot to hear this!

Hehe, **Chinweoa** I must say that actually this is my shortest story, but you were so cute. Of course, I won`t make my female characters weak, in neither of my stories they are and this is no exception. Thank you and hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.

You are welcome **Guest** , thank you for reading this story and enjoying it!

Like always **itsbritneybitch** , your reviews are something to look out for and they are always to the point and so insightful, I am really glad to learn that you like this story as well. I have realized this from all your reviews that you are a genius in depicting and detecting all the situations where I try to infuse traits from the manga world into the characters from my stories and this is no exception. You are so intelligent. In fact, you are among the few reviewers who are always so profound and poetic and skilled in giving a professional review and it is always of a great help and a pleasure to hear from you, thank you. Yes, I will try my best to entwine Naruto and Sasuke`s clash of ideologies in this story and see if Sasuke`s view about a Hokage could have been successful or not if he would have been more involved in the Leaf`s politics. You too? Wow I also wanted to see a darker Sasuke and I admit I have fangirled over him when the manga portrayed him as a total villain. I have a soft spot for villains. I know and this is the reason why I came up with the idea of a clone in order not to stray from my idea of portraying Sasuke. In my eyes, he was a villain but not unscrupulous and this rapist and abusive attitude never matched any of his traits. If anything, the short villain Manga personality only made him even colder but never low and cheap. Again, you caught me with my hands in the cookies jar, you are right. My stories are somehow connected since the main idea about the characters is still the same, even though I put them in different circumstances.

Really? I am relieved to know that it was not boring, because yes, you know that I find myself weak at writing action scenes. I am more into feelings and descriptions and romance… and lemons hehe.

Now that you mentioned it dawned on me too that they are similar. Have I mentioned that you are a genius? No Sakura does not know about the real reason about the Uchiha clan and I have it like this because the truth about their extinction is good material to exploit in gaining her trust and appeal to her sensitive nature and I won't let something like this slip past my fingers. I will focus on the other characters as much as I can; you know that I find the relations between characters to be really important for development and sketching their personalities in relation to the others. Oh no, not at all, please don`t say that this is all over the place because this is not true. Thank you for the amazing feedback, like always you are a ray of sun and you always take your time and are so on point with everything, it helps a lot and makes me really happy to find out that my message is correctly perceived. Many hugs and kisses!

I am the one thanking you for following this story and reviewing it, **hifi** ,and don`t worry I will update this story frequently since I kind of became obsessed with it plus this is shorter and easier to write than the other ones. I hope that you find the events so far interesting. I am trying to keep the flow of it untouched and not stray from their characters. Aw, you made me blush madly right now with your words and I could have sent you cookies if I could. Million thanks. We both know that this is actually far from the truth there are also many other authors of SasuSaku stories who are way better than me. It is just that I am absolutely obsessed with this pair, I love Sasuke`s character to death, I love everything about him and Sakura is such an amazing female character; she is in my opinion a role model. This pair is always an infinite oasis of inspiration because of their personalities and this is why it comes so easy to me to write about them. I for instance would probably not be good in writing a NaruHina story –though I will try at some point for fun- because like you said, I don`t relate to this pair like I do to SasuSaku. Their opposing personalities makes it always fascinating to write a romance between them. Well, except for this and EIL the other of my stories have quite cliché plots but I promise to try and deviate for the totally cliché scenarios and add my own personal touch to them. Thank you for all the support, like always, you are amazing! And by the way, I am taking the chance to respond to your review at 'Morphine' since I don't know when will I be updating next. Yes, my exams went well thank you and I am glad to hear that you passed all your exams, although this is not a surprise since you are so smart, congratulations, good job! No, it is all right please do not apologize for something so trivial, your support is incredible, do not worry. I have also been really busy these weeks. And about Kaguya`s tears, the scenes are not entirely gore and disgusting because you know me, I count on the psychological impact and the descriptions. The scenes are descriptive in terms of horror, but they are not terrifying. At least I think they are not. I don't like too bloody or gore scenes in my stories. You can give it a try if you want or simply check the last chapter when the events unfold and see if it attracts you. You too, take care and thank you again and again a million times for all the support!

I will try to be as constant with updates as possible, **Yami no Emi** , hope you liked this chapter.

Thank you, **guest**.

I am glad you found the previous updates interesting thank you for letting me know, **Kvhee**. Your feedback means a lot to me.

I will be honest **dramionelives** , when I hear such confessions from my readers they instantly cheer me up and make my day. You were so cute and so spontaneous and, really? I am very sorry to having embarrassed you in public, my fault hehe does a hug and some chocolate make it up to you? Thank you so much, you have no idea how jolly I am to learn that you like this story so much. And if you are a digger for such intimacy, then know that you found an avid Sasuke and Sakura romance in me, because damn I totally plan on sprinkling this story with steamy scenes between them and of course I will be committed to the element of elegance, erotica, feelings and intimacy between the characters. I want this to be more than a simple abduction situations where the characters cannot connect and, God forbids, I will never write them in an abusive relationship. I would rather keep their 'battle' psychological and try to make their interaction challenging and intelligent. Hope that you enjoyed this chapter as well and that you didn't embarrass yourself because of me! Take care!

Even if the main pair is Sasuke and Sakura here, I will not neglect the others and yes, there will be Naruto and Hinata developing here, **Guest NH**.I hope you found the relationship between the characters so far intriguing. Thank you for letting me know how you feel about the previous chapters.

 **C.S** , I am the one who is deeply indebted to all the support, thank you for reviewing and reading my story!

It is always so thrilling to hear from you, **JakuraAngel** , since it comes from such a talented brilliant author like you. You are also among those type of deep readers who read what is underneath –proud student of Kakashi-sensei you are- and depict the traits of the characters and the purpose of the storyline. Also, it is so relieving to know that Sakura`s symbolism has been correctly interpreted because God only knows that it is not in my intention to make her character weak, but this is not the case here since there are such intelligent people like you to read my story. Thank you so much! Yes, this is exactly my intention in this story, as well as in the others –to maintain this balance between their opposing personalities in completion to each other. I hope to get it right. I can never express my gratitude enough to you for all the amazing support and for always taking your time to go into such details in your reviews and be of so much help for me to understand what I am doing right and what should I focus more on. I hope that this chapter wasn't disappointing. Million hugs, kisses and cookies goes from me to you!

 **Guest** , thank you for the feedback, I am doing my best to keep my updates as fast as possible.

Are you referring to the meaning of the words or the symbolism behind those words, **Guest**? If this helps, it is all for the visual effect and for the flow of descriptions. I don't want to fall into those cliché descriptions that are overly repetitive. I am trying to build up my _own_ distinctive writing style. I am positive about this image of Sasuke and I will admit that I am partly to blame for this too in some of my stories, but this is an exception. Rest assured, I am not making Sasuke a manwhore here because this is one of the stories which is the closest to the actual manga. I respect their dominant of character. Well yes, intimacy and erotica has nothing to do with the experience or the numbers of partners. This is not a ground or a legitimate set up for a building romance, at least not in my opinion. I am glad to see that there are others who think like this, thank you for letting me know how you feel!

I am glad that I managed to surprise you, **Maram**. Really? Hehe, I found that part to be funny as well though I wasn't sure that my readers will deem it as amusing but seeing that it did means that my purpose here is done. I didn't want that scene to be dramatic, offensive and outrageous so I figured that some humor will lighten up the mood. Well, you know my writing style and the fact that I love to have as many intense moments between my favorite pair so you can expect more development in the future. But I will take my time in working in a solid ground for their relationship. Well… she never did in the Manga right? Hehe. Hinata is still her sweet self. Hope you liked this chapter as well. Thank you for being so consistent and encouraging me all the times!

Thank you for finding me and enjoying my work, **SasuSakuLove** , I love your name by the way. Well I am not exactly what I will deem as an author to update really fast, sometimes my hectic schedule gets in the way, but I am trying my best not to let my readers wait way too much. Is that I want to give it my best all the times and not disappoint and hence I take my time in making my work complex and enjoyable to read. Your support is flattering me, thank you again!

All the best for my readers, **Guest** , thank you very much, I hope you liked this new chapter of mine.

The fact that you took from your precious time to share it with me what you like about this story is more than I could ask for, **sakuraXxXShisui**. Unfortunately I know it all too well about this misunderstanding of the main female characters` worth among the fanbase and this saddens me so much because I can see so much potential and development into all of them, especially Sakura and Hinata. This is why I like to take my time and work on their character into my stories and enhance their qualities the best I can. This story is no exception, I don't want to have weak female characters who fall into the same stale cliché of falling in love with the male characters, seemingly attracted by their dominant and strong personalities. I like to sneak some humor into my stories and this one will be no exception. I am glad that it is welcomed. Yes, the word could be used to describe her determination, why not? The fact that Hinata is not easygoing and she is rather laconic, humble, extremely polite and introvert doesn't seem to me that she is weak or lacks backbone or the spirit of a kunoichi, on the contrary, I think that it has to do with education and clan`s strict upbringing. We cannot have a Hyuga member be carefree and buoyant like Naruto or Ino. At least not in my opinion. I want to put her in a new light and bring the ninja in her to the light more. Thank you, I am glad that you found that enjoyable. I haven`t seen a drunk Sasuke in the Manga and I thought it would be a funny add. Plus, a sober Sasuke will be harder to open up to a stranger like this. Well I am an avid for intense moments between this pair and I hope that my continuation of the moment didn't disappoint. The fact that you do only makes me soar because it means that the story and my descriptions –which most of the times tend to be filigree and overly excessive and lush in adjectives and metaphors- are not boring. I cannot answer that yet because it will be spoiler, warui ne. Of course, if I introduced a character then I had a purpose behind it. More will appear in the future. Lol, you were so funny and cute here hehe. Hope you found this chapter at least equally interesting as the previous ones. Thanks again for the review and beautiful words!

Don't worry about this **Guest** , I can venture as far as to guess who is reviewing me based on the style of writing and it is completely fine by me. Thank you so much for being always so supportive and of course, if I started a new story then I mean to continue it in fact, I seem to be quite absorbed into this myself and only find inspiration to update this one. Maybe it has to do with the busy schedule from the past few weeks that kept me depressed and in no mood for updating but this story is shorter and the flow of events just keep on coming to me naturally. Does this make any sense? Hope you liked this chapter as well, thank you so much for everything, you are awesome!

So this being said, thank you mina-sama for everything, for the support, for taking your time and letting me know how you feel about this newest story of mine, for following me and reading this story, I love you all to the Moon and back –no _Infinite Tsukuyomi_ intended!

Till next time, take care of you guys and hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!


	5. Broken Wings

**::CHAPTER V – BROKEN WINGS::**

* * *

Addled orbs flew to the wide open panoramic window which provided a clear vista into the distance being a silent observatory for the always alert Kage, as the entire foundation of the tall building shook and rippled like having being hit by an electric discharge of energy. "What the hell was _that_ noise?" Kiba`s nose was already sniffing the bizarre scent of vapors while Akamaru barked twice at his owner confirming his suspicion.

Sasuke as well as the other men in the room quickly apprehended that there were two viable possibilities for the stupefying attack which came so sudden after their own: it was either reinforcement of the shinobi who weren't in the Leaf when they attacked, now coming back to free the prisoners and claim the village back from them, or an unforeseen enemy who was spying on the Leaf and reported back to his superiors, taking advantage of the commotion created into the Village by the loss of their Kage and neither of the two scenarios was staggering, on the contrary.

"There is smoke rising from the front Gates!" Naruto dashed to the window as his cerulean orbs took in what was simply obvious for his comrades, outstretching his thumb in the direction of the spirals of smoke and the commotion bustling from the streets. Even he could phantom what was the source of the all too familiar resonance and they knew for a fact that it wasn't a welcome party thrown in their honor. "It looks like someone is trying to–"

Before he had the chance to voice out his conjecture, their small reunion has been cut short by Jūgo who slammed the office door against the side wall almost breaking it from tis hinges, making all the orbs shuffle to his distraught tall form while he didn't even give anyone the chance to question his outré behavior and the first one he addressed was the pair of bleeding ruby star shaped pupils of Uchiha Sasuke glowing right back to him in a lethal stare.

"Sasuke!" The slight tremors in his usually composed soft voice made the last Uchiha narrow his orbs that bleed with the indomitable Sharingan as for a moment he surmised that Jūgo has fell in one of his manifestation of his bipolar character again, going on rampage but then he adjudged that he left his job as a prison guard to deliver some very disturbing news. "We are under attack. _Lightning_ shinobi have assaulted the Village!"

"Nani?" Oh, how those demonic orbs projected the bonfire flaring through his Uchiha blood when Jūgo dropped that news to his comrades, made the entire room freeze for a moment as the air around became chilly and suffused with venom. "You mean that someone is attacking the Village that _I_ have just conquered? Are they insane?"

A hint of _panic_ coursed through his spine, discharging like a voltage all along his system when Jūgo dropped the news about the Leaf being attacked; something welled inside his chest like a tempest making him tap his hands on the edges of the desk and shadow the entire room with a spike in his atmosphere that resembled a gust from the scorching flames of Hell.

Heh, indeed life had such a fine-grained sense of dark humor and irony, being implacable in rewinding the past mistakes and the errors of its actors that were shinobi with all the masks they were, because the scene mirrored the one from the day before when _his_ group of rogue shinobi assaulted the Leaf and it was Konohamaru the one to break it to the Kage and now a sardonic déjà vu ricocheted back to them.

"Teme–" Naruto whipped his head backwards to appeal to his friend`s ration but the Uchiha was like always two steps ahead, already fluttering the hand signs of his summoning jutsu by pressing the words with a determination that his friend has never seen in the Uchiha`s husky inflection and for a moment Naruto questioned from where did that frenzy coming from.

"–I won't let them lay a hand on MY Village! Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A humongous bright lilac serpent emerged in a gust of grey smoke, wrapping around the Hokage Tower like a predator encircling its prey, waiting for the orders of his Master. There was no time to lose there, fooling around and getting sentimental about the true meaning of the concept of the Village in Sasuke`s preconceptions, when such a strong enemy was attacking them under their very eyes.

Kumogakure no Sato has never been Konoha`s ally by excellence ,and their history of rivalry goes back in time to the Hyuga incident when they have been unsuccessful in framing the Hyūga and kidnap Lady Hinata –ironically enough, Naruto`s seemingly protégée, trying to claim the Byakugan for themselves or their encounter with Naruto`s father himself which has also been a failure.

Naturally, they would waste no time in roaring back from where they lurked in the shadows, patiently waiting for a moment of internal instability in the government or the unforeseen attack of a stronger enemy to weaken their formidable guard, but they have miscalculated Sasuke`s intention because the Uchiha _didn't_ want to just rob the Village and leave it in ruins and drained of energy and then dissipate without a trace.

His purpose was far deeper than such a simple stunt and he almost smirked when trying to phantom the smug face of the monolith Raikage when concocting such a genius plan –to attack the Leaf when it was already floppy and debilited.

Truth to be told, Sasuke nurtured an immense hatred for that brainless gorilla of the Raikage whose abnormal muscles and bestial sheer force was only topped by how much of a blockhead he was.

Someone as disimpassioned as Uchiha Sasuke who relied more on his premeditated actions rather than improvising and being volcanic, temperamental and rushed, naturally despised such a lack of tact from someone who praised himself as a Kage –a Leader, a mentor and someone to set an example for his subordinates. That bulky ignoramus will never snatch the Village out of Sasuke`s clutch or transgress it as long as he was still breathing and _protecting_ it.

Needless to say that his comrades were all accustomed with his laconic personality and they didn't need too much missives to comprehend Sasuke`s mimics, for the Uchiha was an action man who spoke through his kinesics and the indomitable expressiveness of his glowing eyes.

Naruto wasted no other second in mirroring his movements, he too clicking on the fine skin of his thumb that was scarred from so many times of waving the signs of the Summoning Technique, and this is the reason why Sasuke leaped atop the head of his violet serpent waiting for the obnoxious dobe to conjure his peculiar Frog.

Gamakichi, one of his faithful frog friends from the Myoboku Mountain emerged from a parallel world to join Sasuke`s faithful Aoda snake, flashing his ebony haired friend one million grins, as Sasuke could clearly depict how the blonde`s immense chakra was already blazing and roaring to life from the pits of his consciousness where it lied dormant. "What`s the plan, bastard?"

His friend`s intense stare was focused straight ahead following the source of the squall into the distance while his orbs changed its pattern into a torpid swivel of the intricate fractal of his Mangekyou Sharingan, silently answering to Naruto`s question –that he was deadly serious and they should charge at the enemy with all their might.

Naruto was always flared up by Sasuke`s lethal temper and although he was clearly not as buoyant and easygoing as the effervescent blonde, his Uchiha genes fulgurated from every drop of his blue blood in an amalgamation of blood thirst, penchant for revenge and the ravenous impulse to protect what they held dear –in this case the Leaf itself and its innocent inhabitants who might face the same fate as the child Sasuke and Naruto have once experienced.

Because even though their philosophy might be suffused with a hypocritical ambition, it was _not_ the civilains who were Sasuke and his group of rogue shinobi`s target; it has never been the helpless orphans or the civilains who had nothing to do with the shinobi world and their bloodcurdling endless clashes and conflicts the object of their rage; it was the shinobi`s machinations and ambitions who were the kernel of all those absurdities and the essence of all the grief and hatred.

And this infuriated Sasuke more than anything else, because those clowns of Kumo shinobi were there to attack the Leaf and not their shinobi probably aiming to annex the Leaf to Kumogakure and make the Leaf part of their land, which was unacceptable.

Luscious ebony locks fluttered into the gust of disconcerting wind charging the air with an unsettling electricity, making it seem like his aristocratic features have been shadowed by the longer tendrils of his bangs spilling on his cheeks and forehead, while his aflame Kaleidoscope Sharingan swiveled in a hypnotic cadence of the Devil`s most favorite tango, in the intricate filigree spiral as he looked in the distance quickly assessing the mass of rising chakra of his enemies while Naruto who was already going into his Sennin Mode was doing just the same, frog orbs smearing his pupils in a peculiar pattern. The Uchiha`s velvet cognac resonance dripped like poison of the most lethal snake in a very suggestive order. " _Kill_ them all."

"With pleasure." A wicked content grin rose on Suigetsu`s thin lips as he unravel his sharky canine, swinging his ruthless blade into the air, resting it on his shoulder as it was still half cut from their previous battle and now he was presented with the generous opportunity to slice some Kumo fuckers in half and have it repaired.

His violent nature was already engaged as the youngest Hozuki brother dashed to the rooftop coming to stand on the railing beside Sasuke and his Summoning, throwing a peep to his seemingly composed Leader and following how his entire aura exuded of a demonic hair-rising purple radiance.

Damn scary.

"Shikamaru," Sasuke shuffled his orbs to the torpid Nara genius trusting no one else but his brilliant mind to come up with a quick saving strategy in case something went wrong, not being in a fit of ego burst to deny it that Shikamaru was by far the greatest strategist among them.

"You will stay here in case something happens and take care of the civilains. Konoha has an emergency system of evacuating the civilains and the children by leading them through a secret tunnel that goes deep into the catacombs of Konoha, which are hidden into the Hokage Mountain."

This was something that Sasuke was not a stranger to since his father was the Head of the Police Force in charge with the Leaf`s safety. "I know this from my father and my younger brother who was a former Anbu. They have maintained the same system unchanged. I am counting on you to keep a close eye on the Village and the enemy`s move."

"Roger that." Shikamaru yawned lazily already feeling the wheels in his astute mind gyrate out of his own control and, although he would rather be gazing at the clouds that were brimming with an outré electrical charge enhancing the atmosphere of a deceiving sepia portrait, he was aware of his crucial mission in their every fight, and that the lives of the innocent peasants, children and defenseless women depended on each of them playing their parts flawlessly.

A good part of him wanted to smirk at the irony of this entire messed up situation. Sasuke who killed the Hokage couple of hours ago was now acting and ordering around like a Kage himself, creeping from the shadows to strike the enemy who had the audacity to walk in broad light and attack, being the first one to react to the news and jump to protect the Village from the enemy.

And Naruto has dived even deeper than his shrewd friend, surmising that Sasuke did it _unconditionally_ like his own _body_ has reacted before his mind had the chance to ponder or protest, and this only meant that his friend still had a chance to be saved from that darkness that swallows him each and every moment, drop by drop.

 _A ray of light is needed, please come and shine again-_

"Bastard," Of course that Naruto kept his inkling all for himself, while on the surface he learned from his best friend to never let the others see what was in his soul, seemingly to have his head on the battle instead of wandering into the den of sentiments that was so far away from his ebony haired companion, who didn't even shimmer nor did he turn around to let him know that he was listening because the blonde haired Uzumaki knew that Sasuke was _always_ keen, even when he seemed to drift off. "I have read their chakra. There is no Kumo shinobi among them who is stronger than us."

What Naruto was conveying to his friend was the fact that the strongest of the Kumogakure weren't among them because they knew about the strength of that Village and their man force starting with the Raikage himself who possessed a tremendous power which was on par with a Bijuu`s when he went in full enraged mode.

It didn't mean that Uzumaki or Uchiha were crawling in fear of tried to find a hideaway before the strongest opponents because they were definitely not the type of shinobi to be taken lightly, on the contrary.

Sasuke`s chilling distant tone betrayed not a single emotion or a fragment of vacillation in his silky baritone voice and it was almost uncanny how extremely cold he could be in front of a battle, never shying away in front of an unknown enemy whose Jutsu or secret techniques they didn't know; Naruto resisted the urge to grin at his friend knowing that such things were trivia to Sasuke –to him, the level of strength of his opponents simply didn't matter, he will always find a way to take them down.

"I didn't expect them to be." The metallic sound of his Kusanagi blade sliced from its confinement highlighted the disheartening ambience around his form mirrored in the unforgiving orbs of his Sharingan spinning frenetically.

"Aoda," At the sound of his Master`s voice the giant Snake`s silhouette tensed and slide to the ground readying itself to strike without mercy as Sasuke`s husky baritone pressed on each syllable like he could slash his adversaries with the sound of his voice alone. "go straight _ahead_ and take me to the Front Gates. We are going to stop the enemy there and not permit them to wander through the Village."

He could fool anyone he wanted with that unruffled attitude, but Sasuke will never be able to askew from Naruto`s sixth sense; his ebony haired friend who has longed stopped to only be a best friend and stepped into the shoes of the brother that the blonde never had, was being troubled and shaken and this pleased Naruto because for the first time in such a long time, Sasuke seemed to be attached by something _else_ than the concept of darkness alone.

He was clearly _worried_ for a Village that held no sentiments for the last standing Uchiha in return, and for a moment, even Naruto himself lived under the false impression that Sasuke harbored only a deep resentment for the Leaf and for how they dealt with the problem stirred by his family, but apparently he was far more profound than this, trying to decipher the meaning of the greatest truth by himself, see it with his own eyes rather than listening to the infinite web of endless lies sewed around him in a never-ending spider`s web, taste and explore with his own senses and reach the underneath of the things, deciding to protect instead of crush what was still being his place of _birth._

Naruto felt it too just as ardently as Sasuke, Kiba or Shikamaru –that their roots, their history the past that gave their existence a worth, the one that placed a surname beside their name was connected to them by invisible threads that dug deeper in their own blood, linking them to the Village forever.

For Sasuke, this was the nest where all his memories as a child resided and even if the Village itself tried to sever the bonds with memories about the Uchiha, Sasuke fought to bring that flame from a simple flicker of a soft candle barely piercing the darkness around, to the splendid bonfire that it once was.

As long as the Leaf was still standing and its _Fire_ still flamed within its inhabitants, then Uchiha will never perish like crystal sands washed away by rolling waves.

"Yes Sasuke-sama." With a brisk spurt and a jerk of his slick body, Aoda dashed through the Main Street that led to the Front Gates of the Village in a hexing fluid sidewinding motion, molding with ease through a lateral street that Sasuke knew it was less populated mindful not to harm the civilains, leaving a hollering obstreperous blonde idiot behind him to shriek.

"Oi, bastard, wait for me damn it! Gamakichi, let`s take the roofs like all the COOL guys do!" Naruto pointed to the spirals of thick fog that was raising in the air from the location where Sasuke was speeding to and he almost fell of the giant frog as the Summoned animal pushed on its flexible legs and leaped highly on the sky, following Aoda and Sasuke as Naruto was bawling and shouting obscenities at him that he almost caught him out of guard.

Jūgo gazed into the horizon where his friends have dashed while he and Shikamaru have been left behind to take care of one of the hardest tasks, namely protecting the Village with the short resources that they had at their disposal, as they were being short on men and the other Leaf shinobi were in prison and it wasn't the fact that Sasuke and a small number of their rogue group of missing Nins weren't enough to pulverize the enemy in one single blow, but maintaining the order among the villagers which were probably scared and confused and causing a ruckus, as well as safely evacuating them to the hideaway that Sasuke has just mentioned to him was such a _drag._

The genius has already figured it out that Jūgo has warned their comrades about the incident right before he marched to the Hokage Tower where he concluded that Sasuke himself will be present, so naturally they were already scattered into the Village, waiting for orders that probably won't get to them because Uchiha has entrusted this task to Shikamaru, while Naruto, him and their most skilled men were already on their way to face the Kumo shinobi.

"Dude," The mellow tangerine haired man turned to Shikamaru as the Nara tapped his shoulder, coming to peek into his serious olive orbs that were slightly narrowed in a familiar mannerism that betrayed a plan being concocted into his scheming mind right this instant. "I need your help. I need to convey a message to our men since we don't have enough manpower to take care of _all_ the villagers and not to mention that we also lack credibility since we are also their _enemy."_

Jūgo nodded once to him listening intently to what Shikamaru had to say; he and the Nara traitor were Sasuke`s most trusted men in terms of composure and keeping their cool always being the ones that he entrusted with taking care of the finest subtle pressing matters such as protecting the Villagers from the enemy`s attack.

"There is a Yamanaka woman among the prisoners. The _heir_ herself." Jūgo was not surprised to hear those words being spilled from Shikamaru`s mouth since he knew that being part of the gentle Nara clan meant that he has spent part of his childhood amidst those clans who were affiliated to his own –as the Yamanaka and Akimichi, hence he had Intel about their abilities and their devotion towards the Village.

"Bring me to her, she can link me to the villagers and lead them to follow my command." What the serene original possessor of the Curse Sealing Mark also knew for a fact was that Shikamaru was also betting his plan on the strong feelings of amity, endearment, camaraderie and their _bond_ that Konoha Villagers treasured so much, in order to appeal to that woman`s kindness and beckon her to help an enemy.

Because even though they now had a common enemy, Shikamaru was still Ino`s enemy ever since he deflected the Village and turned his back on them to join Sasuke and his cause. Jūgo knew how strong those links between shinobi could be especially if they were kindhearted, genuine and passionate by nature from experience; his commitment and devotion to Kimimaro were the invisible treads that kept him tied to Sasuke as the Uchiha was truly resembling his reincarnation, not in terms of common goal because Sasuke has never been stalwart to Orochimaru, but in terms of being completely allegiant to their purpose, whatever that was.

So that was the reason why Jūgo completely trusted Shikamaru and his intuition and if Sasuke himself entrusted him with this task completely relying on his genius, then he will follow him without questioning too. "Ok. Follow me."

.

.

.

* * *

"What`s with a-all this c-commotion, Neji-nii-san?" Hinata, just like all the other Leaf shinobi imprisoned had her senses keen and intently listening to the bizarre furor and ferment resonating through the walls of their obscure prison, while her hands were wrapped around the cold bars, as all of them were fidgeting and sensing the ground waves shaking under their own feet. "An earthquake maybe?"

"No." For the first time since they have been reunited in such unpleasant circumstances Neji seemed to react and prove it that he life was still breathing through his form, because ever since he found out about Hanabi and their unborn child, light has dissipated from his eyes and there was an impenetrable wall that separated him from the rest of the world; from the world of living, he resembled a walking corpse without a soul. "It looks like something is happening to the surface. This sounds like an… explosion."

"A blast?" Genma barged into the conversation not caring whether it was private or not since the reverberations of the explosions caused by the Kumo shinobi have been on every Leaf Shinobi`s mouths and plus all the enemy guards have suddenly vanished as soon as they received a mysterious message from one of the Sound shinobi who came running down to announce Jūgo about something that made him leave his job. "From where? Have they decided to destroy the entire Village?"

"Probably, just what you can expect from lowlife scums like them?!" Kotetsu shrieked from the opposite cell as he and Izumo have been imprisoned together after losing a battle with Jūgo who managed to kill Ibiki Morino, one of the strongest Leaf shinobi in terms of intellect and Intel gathering.

"They can be out there torturing innocent people while we are being held in here with these cursed chakra restrainers around our legs and hands powerless and absolutely vulnerable! Man this drives me crazy!"

"Calm down Genma, it is futile to try and rewind everything," Neji hushed his comrade trying his best to focus on the commotion outside and realize what was happening outside because he wasn't too convinced over the fact that the enemy has simply decided to blow the entire Village up; something about their uncanny attitude and their Uchiha leader`s last words before he took their Hokage down with a slice of his sword, intrigued and confused him.

Their intentions seemed to be more elaborate than the ones of regular villains who simply sought destruction and ravaging the Village being tempted by solely its wealth.

Upon hearing the exchange of opinions, Hinata downcast her lunar orbs to her clenched fists that were wrapped around the bars and pressed her canine onto her lower lip, thinking about Naruto`s words which were echoing through her mind and she couldn't stop thinking about the soothing feeling that his lenitive presence summoned inside her.

"No, this c-can't be. H-He _promised_ n-not to touch the Village or the c-civilains." Her hopeful comment has been whispered like a solar breeze in July and only Neji heard her and this is exactly why he shook his head at how Hinata`s feelings were swaying and voltefacing from the obvious hatred that she should be feeling towards the ones who destroyed their lives but then again, Hinata`s gentle soul was reminiscent to the one of the Priestess of Tea herself –too lenient about the injustices.

But then again they were villains, rebels, rouge ninja, fugitives who were being chased down, hunted by all the Five Nations of Shinobi, people whose lives were only worth as much as the bounties placed on their heads were and this is why Naruto`s words could be as empty as his leader`s heart was –vapid and derisive, a simple cruel trick to toy with her mind and spellbind her into giving up the light, her very courage and abandon their most precious gift, the Will of Fire.

"Maybe it's our allies coming to the rescue!" Her margarite-violet orbs fluttered opened turning to the source of whoever has shouted those words of comfort and hope and her chest suddenly warmed with a newfound determination. Yes, that was it! The Priestess of Tea will _never_ lose her hope nor will she let the light be swallowed by the darkness. 

Even though the young Hyuga heiress has never met that mysterious woman in person, she too believed in her concept, in the archetype of pure light soothing their hearts and offering her help when they most needed it, so why would she stop doing it now? Just because the enemy has threatened to imprison her and tarnish her emblem?

No, no demon will ever be able to swallow the Heart of the power that nested within her, within the Village itself; they were all connected by every tear, every raindrop, every smile, every memory, ever heartbeat and every gentle wind blowing through the small cracks in the walls. She just had to believe in herself and in that power that stood in their unity and _never giving up_ hope.

"Man, that would be awesome!"

The sudden thump of feet hitting the cold ground of the stairs that led down to the cells made all the orbs fly in the direction of the entrance, as the pale lights of the torches shimmering along the narrow halls seemed to flare, reflecting two irregular silhouettes of two men joggling to them.

"Is that… Nara Shikamaru and the guardian?" Hinata turned her violet orbs in front of her where Neji was focusing his eyes into the distance trying to figure it out whether they were their enemy or allies.

She felt sorry to crush that hope shimmering in the form of a dainty gleam in his pearl orbs, but she could see it better who has come to pay an unexpected visit since her cell was facing the base of the stairs. "Yes... what are they doing here? And why are they running?" Something was wrong in their anxious behavior and the obvious frown creasing Shikamaru`s visage which everyone knew that was so uncharacteristic for a Nara.

"What cell?" Shikamaru asked Jūgo as the gentle man led him to the first row of cells, mentally assessing the condition of the prisoners and cursing softly at the way the news traveled fast; since they were all glued to the bars of their cells keeping their eyes glued to his and Jūgo`s backs, seemingly blowing on their nape, he surmised that the Leaf shinobi already figured it out that they were under attack and he ventured as far as to depict some hope in their widened orbs, probably expecting it to be alleys coming to the rescue.

Heh, he was _almost_ regretful to disappoint but–

"There she is." Shikamaru followed Jūgo's steps as the former Sound shinobi led him to the one that he requested to see and indeed there she was, the same woman that he kept his orbs on the entire time while Sasuke was busy giving their Hokage the trial of his life, passing his retribution and he was stunned by her eyes for the second time since they met after all this time; she probably doesn't remember him too well from their childhood days but memories ricocheted back to him full force since his memory was implacable.

Her baby blue eyes clearer than azurite gemstones were burning with ferocity and mild discomfiture as in why would Shikamaru give Jūgo such a stern command. "Open the cell." Jūgo did just as so twisting the key in the lock and stepping aside to let the Nara genius enter her cell, while all the other prisoners held in their breaths following the bizarre spectacle and mentally questioning his resolve to be there. Was he going to free her for some kind of twisted reason?

The moment the tall male opened up the cell, Ino took a careful step back but although her chakra was being restrained by a silvery band locked around her left ankle, she didn't let the bonfire cool down from her narrowed orbs standing her ground like a proud kunoichi and not allowing her enemy to detect fear in her demeanor, although something inside her flinched and assured her that the familiar character from the Nara clan wouldn't harm her, but that didn't mean that she would automatically trust him. "What do you want? Don`t you dare come near me–"

Shikamaru didn't even give her the chance to play the almighty shinobi knowing all too well that she had a skittish temper and she was ready to jump into the fire head first, cutting her short getting straight to the point; it was not like he had more time to spare anyways, not when the fate of the others depended on it. "–We are under attack. _Kumo_ shinobi have just blasted the Front Gates and assaulted us."

"What?!" Her bewildered shriek has been covered by the choir of the other Leaf shinobi who burst in an explosion of winging and whispering between them, fidgeting and demanded to be set free to stop that absurdity, and that made Shikamaru exhale deeply, blinking twice to keep his composure and not lose his head in the mist of that turbulence, pinning Ino with a serious stare; while his olive orbs were calculating and stern, hers on the other hand were a convolution of everything from stupor and apprehension, to claiming an explanation.

"No! This can't be, we have to stop them!"

"You have to let us go so that we can go and fight them!"

Of course that such a thing was the most logical and natural to Shikamaru but unfortunately he couldn't grant Neji such a wish; temper has flied off the handle and inflamed upon hearing that another attack was undergoing into the Village and that would most likely drain it of all the resources and vitality and those bastards were looking so unfazed doing absolutely nothing but paying visits to the prisoners like rubbing it into their faces that they lost everything and they were impotent to help in any way.

"I am afraid that I can't do this. Only Sasuke`s order can set you free and not mine or anyone else`s." The Nara prodigy answered to the Hyuga`s outburst silently letting Jūgo know that they only needed this blonde prisoner; not that anything was capable of riling the calm Jūgo up, beside his own bipolar personality and Shikamaru inwardly prayed that he won't lose his temper now when Sasuke was busy fighting the enemy and he was the only one capable to stop him using his Sharingan`s hypnotic ability. And his subtle words also touched Hinata`s hope and the Uzumaki`s promise to set her free from the cell one day. "I only need her. The Yamanaka heiress."

"What? Why me?"

"I need your special Yamanaka technique of mind reading jutsu to convey a message to my men and the villagers. We need to take them to the hiding."

"Wha– I don't trust you! You are the enemy, you attacked us first and now you want to SAVE this village?! This is absurd, I don't believe a wor–"

"–It`s up to you to believe it or not, but as we speak now, my friends are already fighting and trying to stop the Kumo shinobi," She was startled when Shikamaru traipsed to her keeping his composure all the times as his orbs never shuffled from her baby blue ones keenly following every flickering in those azurite eyes that gleamed with reticence and incertitude coming to stand right in front of the beautiful blonde kunoichi and next thing she knew, he did something that startled both of them; Shikamaru genuflected and before she had the chance to shy away from him, he used a quick simple handsel to free her ankle from the chakra restrainer speaking just as lackadaisically as always while she was shocked till depths by his gesture. "see for yourself and no funny business if you know what`s good for you. Don't make me act like I _don't_ want to act, especially with _ladies_. Women are generally such... _troublesome_ beings, but my mom used to say that we have to treat you with respect if we want to still call ourselves real _men_."

She scoffed at his fastidious reply trying to ratiocinate and ponder her options, while she felt her chakra flowing through her system and flooding her every cell, power being returned to her in rolls of pleasurable tickles.

It took some time to make it circulate normally but when she did orbs snapped open at the man with the peculiar pineapple hairstyle and a nonchalant attitude trying to depict whether he was telling her the truth or not. "IT'S TRUE! Kumo shinobi are... the children... NO!" Quivering hands fisted into the high collar of his jacket as she pleaded to him with those shimmering eyes and for a moment Shikamaru has been taken aback by that overflowing fortitude exuding from her lips. "We have to save them, do you understand?!"

"That`s what I am saying. Can you connect me to all the villagers?" She saw the despair in that topsy-turvies that was washing over the Leaf Village, the villagers running disarray and lost waiting for directions and the children caterwauling and shouting to their parents lost in the piles of collapsing buildings and dusty streets. "I already ordered our men to lead them but they won`t just trust _us_ the enemy. We need someone they trust, someone from the Leaf. And they trust YOU."

Tears welled into the gemstones of her shimmering eyes as Ino fought them back, understanding that she couldn't make a heroic escape now with two strong enemies guarding her cell and her only option to do something for the village was to collaborate with an enemy to cease away another… enemy. Oh sweet irony sewed by the net of destiny, she nodded once to him, focusing her Chakra as her hands were sealed in the distinctive hand sign of her mighty telepathic Jutsu.

Silently, Ino spanned her hand to Shikamaru`s forehead tapping on it as he followed the motion frowning and trying to see if she wanted to trick him but seeing how the veils on her temples bulked under the porcelain skin creased by small droplets of perspiration burning along her face assured him that she understood the importance of his request. "Focus your thoughts when you feel my mind connected to you."

She was tempted to use his indomitable technique to destroy his mind and escape but Jūgo was with him and she knew that she had no chance in taking him down that monster when he relinquished to his blood thirst personality.

they weren't careless shinobi who would blindly march in here and trust the shinobi that they were keeping imprisoned without a backup plan and that much Ino understood; especially if the brain of the organization seemed to be no other than a Nara heir. Plus, the village came first even before their wellbeing and ambition and as Leaf Shinobi it was their duty to protect the innocent people and those enemies from Kumogakure no Sato were ones not to be taken lightly, but at the same time she caught the glimpse of the abnormally high chakra of Uchiha and Uzumaki dashing straight amidst the mass of Kumo shinobi fighting them and stopping them from advancing to the core of the Village and as absurd as it was now, it was the best option for the Village to remain intact.

Shikamaru wasted no time in letting his simple command flood Ino`s consciousness as she used her Jutsu as resonance to her own transmitting it to the ones that Shikamaru instructed. _'Lead all the villagers through the eastern exit that sways to the hideout located deep under the Hokage Mountain. Take the road that crosses in front of the Academy. Try to avoid the downtown where Sasuke and Naruto have lured them or the exits from the village where the enemy probably awaits for us. And provide medical help to the injured ones.'_

What Shikamaru failed to notice was the deeper meaning behind Yamanaka`s sly smile, because he was focused on making his order as compelling as possible and that was because Ino sensed that Kakashi was still alive recovering and taking care of his own injuries and so did Anko Mitarashi who was accompanied by some Leaf Shinobi hiding into the mountains where enemies couldn't locate them, probably preparing a counter attack.

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* * *

"He surely knows how to give one orders but he could at least give me fresh clothes to wear, that cocky jerk…" Sakura mentally slapped herself for the inadequate choice of profane vocabulary but Sasuke was making her do things so out of characters like getting intimate with a man or using foul language. He just had that uncanny ability to make someone both desire him and get annoyed by him.

Her back was killing her from dusting off and cleaning all the corners of the Uchiha household and mind telling you the house was way more spacious than it looked from the outside not to mention so many years of being deserted and unoccupied left a mark in the form of mountains of dust, laundry to be done and not to mention the most horrendous sinister thing of all –spiders and their sticky huge webs.

Sakura suffered from severe arachnophobia and getting rid of the huge furry creatures with their small orbs and hairy long legs made her shriek and shout in fright at the top of her lungs.

Good thing that she was home alone and there was nobody to witness her moment of weakness because not only would it have been absolutely humiliating, but people had an inborn tendency to depict someone's weakness and use it as a weapon against the one that had the flaw.

She shuddered while reminiscing about one particular spider popping up from one of the dressers and landing atop her shoulder staring right back at her with its big eyes scaring the living daylights out of the Priestess.

Yes Sakura loved animals and she knew that there was a karmic cycle of regeneration and reincarnation in every inanimate object or animal and everything that belonged to the nature had a _soul_ and she respected that and got fascinated by world`s little miracles, life was the biggest wonder of all, always mesmerizing and meaningful, but for the love of all that`s holly she was dead scared of spiders.

Thankful enough Uchiha has proved to be quite more than just a ruthless rogue shinobi and definitely he lived up to the reputation of an august, being of such a fine noble clan as the Uchihas hence he valued manners –she realized that he never traipsed into his home with his sandals still on leaving them at the entrance, he cut all the roots from the garden and cleaned the Koi fishes pound which unraveling a mesmerizing beauty and a pleasant change in the scenery –an oasis of life amidst the oasis of enclosed forgotten memories which begged to be set free and not to mention, he had the shower repaired.

It was nothing resembling the springs from her Shrine which oozed from the pits of those inactive volcanoes balming her senses, but the hot droplets spritzing on her tensed muscles soothed her in a delightful way when she allowed herself to relieve in the wonders of a steamy shower.

Of course, there was another thing that came as an inconvenience by being held a prisoner of a totally cold master with no fashion sense for a woman`s needs, locked into a ghost town and penniless, namely she didn't have fresh clothes to change her stained tattered kimono.

Honestly, she prayed to all the holly Deities of the Moon and the Sun and the Stars she knew up there so that Uchiha will _not_ decide to return to his home unexpectedly and catch her skimming through the rooms of his home completely _naked_ with only a towel draped around the lush of her long haired which was tied in a loose giant bun and dripping droplets of water along her nude curves. The scene, as deplorable and pathetic as it was, it was beyond comical.

Pouting, Sakura tiptoed on what she has discovered to be the most spacious and airy chamber of the house, situated on the second floor at the end of the hall and separated by beautiful painted bamboo and cranes tatami doors, which let the sun rays reflect through it illuminating the chamber with pleasant green and red tinges percolating on the king sized bed, surmising that it must have been his parent`s room.

She didn't mean to be a stalker or a voyeur but who might possess a woman`s wardrobe in that house other than the Uchiha _matriarch_ herself? Sakura had an inkling that the mysterious woman`s spirit which probably still resided into this godforsaken place must not have any problem with a Priestess borrowing some clothes to cover her denuded body with, but her son might get a little bit… furious and seething and judging his temper this won't be something so pleasant, but for the love of Kami-sama, she couldn't remain naked and reeking of the bloodcurdling stench of dried blood from her wounds, dirt and sweat so she didn't quite care about him right now.

"I wonder what kind of woman his mother was…" Sakura pouted making a cute comical face as she traipsed as silent as a crane`s fur into the room, letting her curious jadeite hues take in her surroundings as she had a sensitive keen spirit for 'reading' the aura of the place and although it was exuding a sobriety and a hollow solitude, she could clearly limn the touches of an elegant lady once residing in that place.

And for a moment, she smiled softly when she took in the beautiful retro filigree decorations among the modern furniture, such as handmade ornamentations, vases with oriental motifs or paintings; the walls were decorated with beautiful paintings with animals and flowers motifs and she had a hunch that they were painted by an amateur, probably the Uchiha mother herself. She took her time to carefully wipe them of the traces of time and the light was reflected into the bright colors; she couldn't believe that something into the home of the once Leader of the solemn stoic Uchiha clan could be so effervescent and beautiful; it reminded her of her Shrine.

Then she giggled like a schoolgirl when she wandered through the wardrobe and indeed, amidst the elegant men attires and ninja costumes belonging to the Chief of the Police Force, Sakura found numerous feminine clothes of the same size as she was, merrily flipping through Mikoto`s clothes, in search for something that wouldn't be too outstanding to wear.

That woman was clearly someone belonging to aristocrats because her entire wardrobe was exquisite and revealed a recherché taste for deluxe and refinement. She handpicked herself a simple yet elegant dark navy woman yukata which brushed past her ankles and she happily dotted herself with the sateen and silk cloth relishing in the softness of the expensive fabric.

It was quite curious that the clothes and furniture were pretty much intact except for being dusty, as if time kept everything trapped like a suspended moment lingering somewhere into infinity and waiting to be discovered by someone to make the hourglass seep its sand and breathe life into that space again.

Then running through some more shelves deciding to 'punish' the Uchiha for making her his exclusive prisoner by transgressing his privacy more and happily wandered through the other shelves like a child hunting for treasures in the forest of fairies, finding something in one of them which she had more troubles opening up mostly because of the rust. Well Sasuke didn't actually forbid her to touch anything on his home, on the contrary, he cockily invited her to play the little maid and dust everything so this is exactly what she did.

There was a small velvet black box with the same familiar Uchiha crest ebbed proudly on it –like it was on every single article of clothing including the one she was now wearing, flashing before her delighted emerald pools from under an intricate beautiful embroidery and she cupped it in her palm, closing the shelf and opening it to take a peep inside.

Her breath hitched halfway in her lungs when her emerald pools reflected the hypnotizing light of a breathtaking red diamond carved in the most beguiling pure gold band she has ever seen. "Whoa… this is so beautiful!"

She wondered how come such a masterful piece of jewelry was still intact and hidden into the house remaining a treasure for such a long time. Not only it was clearly something symbolic and veiled in a deep sentimental history, but it was clearly ridiculously ritzy and expensive.

She knew for a fact that red diamonds were the rarest gemstones in the world and not just anyone would afford something like this; it only belonged to elites and people who were very _precious_ for someone to make such a gift.

Her fingertips brushed along the two tiny bands that molded in an intricate spiral creating the band of the ring, noticing that one was made of white gold and the other of pink gold, both ending in the alluring diamond which was cupped by a small platinum crown so as to enhance the unique shade.

The sharp polished cuts of the stone were swallowing and reflecting the light of the sun in every possible directions having an enticing beauty and a mesmerizing magic about it and for a moment, she stood rooted in there in complete wonder and smiling from the bottom of her heart at its beauty and not only. The ring seemed to be sprinkling _life_ and _light_ through the entire room.

"Is Uchiha planning to marry someone?" The idea of him proposing brought laughter in her jadeite orbs. "Probably not, and knowing him, he would rather get all grumpy and _demand_ it with attitude rather than... propose, hehe."

The ring itself just like the paintings had a mysterious soothing effect and a feeling of complete adoration, love and care enveloped her as she run her fingers over the stone, basking in its deeper meaning.

A ring embodied an ardent promise of a lifetime, adoration, the essence of one heartbeat entrapped in gold for eternity. It was meaningful and emotional and she was a Priestess who was sensitive to something so significant. That debonair golden and diamond band was most likely his _mother`s_ wedding ring or engagement ring and this made her smile genuinely, thinking about how a part of the Uchiha matriarch`s gentle soul might reside into that timeless memory.

She carefully closed the box and placed it under the sewed cloth just like she has never found it and closed the shelf, padding to the exit door which Naruto finished fixing before joggling after his raven haired seething friend.

"If he phantoms that I am going to stay procrastinated in his home, he is gravely misunderstanding my character." Oh no, even though Sakura trained in the arts of becoming a Priestess in charge with watching over the well-being of the Village, be the outstretched hand through the maze of darkness for anyone who strayed from its path and not _only,_ she also borrowed Tsunade's personality which was stubborn, heavily independent, self-reliant and strong both mentally and physically, so she wouldn't just simply obey Sasuke`s words just because he dragged her from her Shrine, made the village his personal playground and put some chakra restrainers around her wrists.

He from all the people should know better than anyone else that the _spirit_ can never be tamed and she was as lighthearted as the wind and danced on its limbs. Plus she was still a Priestess even if her role went way _deeper_ than just the embodiment of spiritual and the keeper of the sacred ancient traditions and words of wisdom passed to her from her ancestors but that was the real _secret_ behind her role, one that only a Priestess would know of and she had to make sure that no one will ever find out otherwise it will mean complete destruction.

So she still had the conduct of the paramount of elegance and grace so she wasn't that excessive and volcanic as her former master Tsunade Senju, but this man made her fly off the handle quite easily and many emotions flared up into the abysses of her chest all stirred by Uchiha`s sudden appearance in the picture. It has been a long time since someone has managed to make her feel so many contradicting emotions and the first one to made her entire airy form burst into flames.

 _Not even a Priestess could learn the unpredictable dance of the fire…_ She sighed as Sakura felt her temples explode by simply trying to summon an explanation for Sasuke`s bizarre behavior; he was a walking riddle; she had to constantly guess his mood.

Sinking further into the deserted streets of the former Uchiha District, Sakura couldn't help but get chills along the column of her spine at how hallucinating that depressing place was; everything was so vapid, so morbid and so abandoned and that constricting feeling was pressing on her chest and throat.

It was so silent that she could clearly hear the sound of the ghostly wind blowing through the dusty pavements, making the hair on her nape tauten and she unconsciously slowed down being very receptive to the vibe of a place.

Sakura tried to learn from her surroundings, listen to its story from what nature itself was trying to convey to her and she wouldn't lie; there were cold tears trembling under her eyelashes but they seemed like icicles unable to fall from her eyes.

That place was mourning, grieving, the solitude and silence screamed in despair and sent a forlorn missive begging to be _liberated;_ to be heard, to be discovered it was like the entire place was waiting for a ray of light to shine; it was waiting for _her._

Everything was covered in dust, penumbras, enhanced by a deceiving sepia light coming from the bizarre sunrays and for a moment Sakura had a bloodcurdling feeling traipsing along her limbs as she fisted her hand upon her heart that was pounding faster in her ribcage, murmuring softly. "…this place looks like time doesn`t pass here..."

Memories seemed to be latched to this place like a shadow sticking close to the light; the houses remained exactly the same, it was untouched, unperturbed she felt like intruding but at the same time, she felt that this deserted village yearned for the presence of light and someone to bring it to life.

Is this why her captor moved here? To evoke those memories or bring it back to life, to its former glory? Sakura folded her hands upon her chest not liking the aura of this place. Something ticklish surged through her body warm and pleasant pulsating along her wrists and she understood it then that Uchiha`s chakra was in resonance with her; she felt his chakra, thus she felt _him._

So hollow, so still even the wind instead of playing in her hair and cloth, it seemed to be mourning, grieving. Then she saw a weird gray spiral like a fog while her heart suddenly picked up its pace, as her heels hurried to slide along the streets and to the exit of the District, jadeite hues slightly narrowed. "What is going on there? A fire?"

Something was unfolding outside the borders of the Uchiha district, the present has hit her full force like a gust of wind splashed across her face as her jadeite orbs widened in shock.

Birds were flying out of the village, there was an abnormal energy amassed even she could feel it, there were no people in the distance, explosions and figments of battles creased the chilling aura in the form of the ultimate proof of the abnormal tumult, the air had a weird vibration in it and the very elements of nature were percolating through her system letting her know that she was needed in the Village; there were screams, frenzy on the streets, desperate people, she could perceive their fear though every pore of her body and it was suffocating.

Then she gazed at her wrists as she almost collapsed to the ground when a violent wave has hit her temples shaking her from the very foundation and making her reel in a hypnotic trance; the purple chakra of the owner that was restraining her own pulsated in an upbeat rhythm around her hands, seemingly signalizing activity and a perturbation in the Uchiha`s chakra. "What happens?"

It became unthinkable, her heels tapped against the cobblestone pavements and she run like the wind in that hypnotic deceiving sun, following the empty route to the Village, praying that her gut was only trying to trick her, but something more making her shudder and tremble like a leaf in autumn fluttering and it was conveying a very clear message – the Leaf was in danger again.

Was Uchiha and his men trying to destroy it? No that can't be true; he said that his dream didn't lie in its ruins, nothing that he did so far betrayed such an intention although… he might be thinking that destroying and _rebuilding_ from its foundation was a way to help.

No, no this cannot be happening, he might be cruel but just like Hinata had an unexplainable impulse to trust Naruto albeit they were enemies, she too had this inkling to trust Uchiha more, even though he was someone who didn't deserve such privilege.

Something… something about him, something that lied in his darkness, a promise, a flickering hope… hope that lied in the fact that he chose to remain in his old home… her orbs widened in pure horror when she realized that Sasuke was living at the _outskirts_ of the Village while the smoke that whirled in spirals coming from the core of the village was so far away; no!

That Uchiha district seemed so secluded, so protected, so alienated from everything that had to do with the Leaf and somehow Sakura found herself having an inner battle with two conflicting persons – one was tempted to believe that Sasuke was not the one attacking the Village while the other one tried to reason that he was a deprived rogue, a twisted criminal rotten to the core.

Her sandals clicked on the concrete as she got close to the Village and even if she was chakra restrained and had no weapons with her –that handsome Uchiha was definitely not stupid because he left absolutely no weapon in the home, she had to do her best and protect the Leaf and tis villagers at all costs, no matter what.

The strongest power lied in the feelings and not the weapons and chakra was just another tool that could be tamed, while the heart and the soul just as the Will of the Fire were something free by default, because no one could cage a heart, not even its owner himself and this is the thing that Sakura based her judgment and her demeanor around Sasuke on – that her light will break through darkness somehow.

Unlike the Hyuga heiress who will take advantage of that fragment of kindness that she limned in Naruto`s solar heart, in order to prepare her escape and come up with a backup plan and although the Hyuga was acting totally out of character, even her own intuition let her know that maybe she was too rash in judging the Uzumaki, but then again how would someone be so stupid and try to understand a villain`s motives, rather than a Priestess herself?

This was her mission to make them all see the good in everyone, to prove it that there could be a balance of things, an universal peace accomplished if they all saw the good in each other`s heart and forgive them for their flaws if they were willing to repent and even if they didn't, she could open up their eyes to the light showing them that there was always an alternate route that could stop all that hatred.

Her dream was similar to Naruto`s who was convinced by the fact that universal peace and mutual understanding could be accomplished if people understood each other and accepted each other's as friends and not outcast and alienate the ones with different opinions and beliefs –like the Leaf did to the Uchihas, but unlike Sakura, his vision of peace didn't include salvation to the light by strong feelings of _love_ and forgiveness, but his answer lied in a bond engraved in suffering and pain; to the Uzumaki, the mutual understanding of each other`s pain and suffering, will unite them as comrades, friends, brothers, while Sakura fought with all her might to change all the hatred into love.

Both were idealistic, both were naive fools and both fought for a common goal; in her haste to reach the villagers that were calling for help, yearning for someone to come and show them a way out, Sakura realized that the Leaf Village became the ground where different dreams were about to clash and there was no place for all of them to coexist.

Her heels tapped to the empty streets, as her jadeite orbs were taking in the destroyed constructions, the collapsed home, but she stopped dead in her tracks when she caught the echo of a muffled sound of someone crying from under a pile of wood and bricks of a collapsed home. Sakura joggled to the source of the sound and squat on her knees, knocking on the remains of the home and trying to locate the source of the noise. "Help! Mommy!"

"Are you there, can you hear me?" Her voice broke in a short cry as Sakura squat down on her knees and did her best to lift the burned pieces of wood silently wondering what in the world could have cause such an explosion in order to crack the wood in half and make the stones appear black like charcoals, while she was condemning herself for her inability to conjure her chakra to help her lift those weights easier and quicker. "Please hang on there, I am getting you out in a minute!" Damn those chakra restrainers and their pulsating glow mocking her about the fact that she was impotent and weak when someone needed her.

"Please do not be afraid, I will help you!" She beckoned the child trying to somehow soothe him to no avail, for the sobs and wails were coming in staccato motions making her chest pang. The pink haired Priestess wasted no more time in digging under the mess, doing her best to lift the fallen objects out of the way so she could free the prisoner under the ruins, having struggles in moving those timbers and boulders without her chakra.

A brisk tickle and a bit of newfound strength surging through her spine and limbs let Sakura realize something interesting namely if Sasuke was overusing his chakra then he left some of hers flow through the restrainers.

It was clearly nowhere near enough to attempt to escape or fight him, but just enough to make her job easier and get the child out of that pile of collapsed walls; of course, the restrainer worked immediately reducing her to zero and tickling her as she attempted to summon her chakra with no success and she barely kept her giggles at bay because that was clearly not the place nor the moment to be making such noises of joy and laugh out loud.

Meanwhile she could clearly perceive the chaos, the clamor and the agitation roaring from the Village signalizing that it was indeed a fight undergoing somewhere close and her frights have been confirmed; occasionally the ground was trembling like there was an earthquake rolling in waves under her bare knees reverberating menacingly through her entire body; there were undecipherable screams an wails brushing past her eardrums and the more pandemonium she has felt, the more she felt shaken inside. What was going on?

There were irregular bursts of energy and explosions all around her coming from parallel streets, but most of the bizarre high energy was scattered or focused on the Front gates of the Village and this was quite a clear missive that someone was indeed trying to attack the Village; someone who was not Uchiha and his group which was even more outré. Was someone else trying to destroy this Village?

"No… please be safe little one…" She desperately summon the power that didn't have right now and pushed all the poles out of the way trying to free what looked like the entrance of the house`s basement and when she dug her nails in the mud that somehow covered the two green doors that kept the door open seeing a tuft of frizzy blonde hair popping out of them and she outstretched her hands and pulled the kid out of there, dusting off his hair and shoulders of the dirt, then using her thumbs to wipe away the burning tears of his luscious chocolate eyes as she murmured.

"Poor little child," The mesmerizing emerald eyed Priestess gathered the small lump, who couldn't be more than 6 years old, in her arms and the boy clung to her fairy like form sensing the good in her golden heart, wailing. "What happened to you, where are your parents?"

The child sobbed as he gripped a giant plush frog in his arms tighter to his chest, sobbing in Sakura`s chest. "I-I don`t know. Mommy is... where is she?! Mommy!" Those tears… if there was something that Sakura couldn't stand was to see a child`s tears, they were so pure, so crystalline, so out of that word like dew drops in the morning, like raindrops of spring, so innocent and pure, yet they should never be spilled out sadness.

When a child cried, the Heavens also shed a tear. Kids should never cry, their cheeks should always blush and their lips must fill with merry smiles, not tremble and pout sadly, no. It tore hear heart, it shook her very foundation like those reverberating waves rippling under the ground, making her chest clench painfully.

"Do not worry child, I will find your–"

 _"_ – _Saru!"_ A young woman joggled through the maze of collapsed buildings joggling to the pair and as her orbs took the sight of the son that she was avidly looking for, they started to sparkle with an intense luminosity gleaming with burning tears. "Saru, oh My God you are safe!" Sakura let her hands slide from around the boy`s shoulders as he dashed to his mother, standing up and following the boy as she had the chance to question an adult villager about the state of the Village.

The woman embraced her son tightly, dropping on her knee to hold him tight against her chest as the boy stopped wailing and she took him in her arms, turning around to look at the mysterious rescuer, and the first reaction she had upon seeing the peregrine Sakura approaching her, was to be fazed by her exotic appearance and those incredibly hypnotic green garnet eyes that shone brighter than any velvet horizon, for she clearly didn't look like a villager, but before she voiced out her thoughts Sakura spoke first. "What is going on here Mrs., what happened to the Village? Is someone attacking us again?"

"I don't know, someone is attacking the Village yes, but they are not the same enemy as the first time!" Emerald orbs sparkled with a newfound determination even stunning the woman before her, though she continued to brief Sakura about the status of the Village; something warm and effervescent akin to watching shooting stars graze the sky churned inside her chest when she realized that it was indeed not Uchiha the one to carry on his actions as a complete villain corrupted and merciless and destroy what has been left from the Leaf, it was someone else. "We have been instructed to follow their lead and get into the hideout!"

Both the women threw a quick perusal to their surroundings assessing the situation as the abnormal electric charges brimmed the amassed clouds floating upon the sky and veiling the sun that was preparing to sink behind the mountains, glowing hypnotically claret and tangerine.

Of course that sooner or later, all their enemies will be informed over the fact that their Hokage was dead the temptation of coming to ravage the Village was too hard to resist. "Everyone is confused and scared, we don't know what to do and who to trust!"

"Who instructed you to get into the hideout?" Which was the _right_ thing to do and exactly what the former Hokage himself would have ordered during an attack and this was curious. Sakura had no idea about what was going on in the village or where the other shinobi were, though she suspected that they were somewhere hidden and trying to get together, in prisons or dead.

"Someone from the Yamanaka clan. From what I have heard from my neighbors who already run to the hideout, it is the imprisoned heiress of the clan, Yamanaka Ino the one to lead us."

Forest green orbs flew wide in consternation upon hearing that stupefying news which somehow confirmed her suspicion. Yamanaka Ino was in jail? Was she the only one or there were more? No, it _had_ to be more Leaf Shinobi being alive and in jails; they couldn't have killed them all in their bloody clash, it was impossible, they were stronger than that, she knew it all too well and she trusted their strength.

She had to find out who was in jails and concoct a plan to take them out of there, but first but villagers were more important than the shinobi who were more than capable to take care of them alone, so she recollected her sprinkled thoughts from where they wandered and tried to take the woman out of that horrendous place which was already becoming a battlefield.

"Mrs. you and your child have to hurry up to the hideout that is located into the depths of the Hokage Mountain. I will show you the way! Please follow me!"

Nodding once to the mesmerizing pink haired lady, the woman lifted her child into her arms and followed Sakura`s lead as the Priestess was familiar with the streets and the hideouts, mentally calculating and trying to think of a way to find a weapon preferably a sword since she was versatile in handling katanas or at least a kunai and protect the befuddled villagers since there was no Leaf Shinobi to take charge and lead them, at least not physically and it wasn't enough to just send telepathic messages through a trusted party –she had to hand it to the enemy for they were good in coming up with brilliant quick strategies like relying on a Leaf shinobi to convey the message to the Villagers.

So one of the reasons why she constantly felt like someone was trying to penetrate her mind was because of the Yamanaka`s Jutsu. She didn't know about the enemy`s plan so it was an instinct, a natural reflex of defense to block it with the assistance of her Inner Sakura, her hidden personality which didn't require chakra to manifest, only an impulse and a strong trigger.

"This way, please!" Sakura pointed to a group of peasants heading to the hideout in front of the Ninja Academy probably being instructed to take the shortest and the farther from the battle route, although she couldn't see anyone to lead the people and calm their agitated scared spirits physically, save for two elder men who took the role of the guides amidst a sea of disoriented people; that scene was absolutely distressing and heart-rending to see.

Something panged into Sakura`s chest; a sudden flicker of an unexplored emotion that burst from the pits of her memory, triggered by Sasuke`s words –that she indeed failed to notice the darkest part of the Village and dig more into the inhabitants` problems, even though they sought her for help; they also need _collective_ needs, problems, sufferings and faced dangerous situations like this.

She knew nothing at all; she failed to see the underneath, see the kernel of all those tears, all those wails that now streamed as ardent tears from their kids and their mother`s orbs as they followed a disarray line of people to what they deemed as safety. 

Where was her real contribution to soothing and relieving their hearts? Sakura now understood how the concept of a Priestess, of someone who wished to be a leader, a preacher, a spiritual mentor had to come down from her pedestal and be into the middle of the people, listen to them more, interact and try to see for herself what their real source of _anguish and pain_ was.

Uchiha, in his immensurable abyss of hatred, disdain, revolt and poignancy to the current system, wasn't entirely wrong in his deduction, only too antagonistic and extremist in his approach.

But just as she was busy having an internal debate over such fine-grained problems about the concept of the Shinobi System and the Village`s manner of handling his internal issues and trying to guide the mass of people in the correct direction and sprinkle some soothing words of encouragement upon their panic-stricken hearts as they seemed to naturally be dulcified by her angelic mannerism, something unforeseen decided to interpose between her attempts to provide back-up and eventually finding a way to escape herself and to free the Leaf Shinobi.

"Finally found them!" All the orbs flew in horror to the source of an guttural hollering belonging to a Kumo shinobi who has just landed on the rooftop of the Academy fixing them with a pleased cocky grin as he called for backup.

"Guys over here!" Two more Kumo enemies hurtled from the sky to their comrade, all three of them staring down to the quite unique deplorable scenery before them.

The claret cantaloupe sunset was glowing menacingly behind them augmenting the ominous presence of the invaders, ricocheting in the already troubled minds of the Villagers who instinctually scooped closer to one another, stopping their advance.

Forest green orbs flared with a scintillating bonfire as the impulse to protect those helpless people and fight the enemy took over the gentleness of her Priestess heart and even though it wasn't in her role and heart to resent anyone, she had to cease them away and fight for what she held dearly –to those citizens of the Leaf and the truth.

She was the only one amidst the choir of lamenting voices and apprehended people whose jadeite pools weren't shimmering in trepidation like all the others, no, she was a well-endowed kunoichi trained by Tsunade Senju in the arts of shinobi and the spirit of the Fire so she didn't show any harbinger of fear, but she had to come up with a strategy or at least sketch the outline of a plan because she still had a major disadvantage – she had no chakra, so she definitely would not stand a chance before them and to make it all the worse, she had to find a weapon.

But… that was not her main concern; what might happen in the short tumultuous and unpredictable of a shinobi was a lottery and she knew that.

If she was to die in battle then there will be no problem, but dying uselessly without being able to be useful and save those villagers from the enemy as unacceptable.

And this is when another striking thing about Uchiha`s harsh words echoed through her mind – those villagers didn't have any fighting spirit to protect what was dear to them in their bones, always being used to rely on someone else rather than their own inner strength.

"You have to run away, I will try to hold them back as much as I can!" She whirled her head over her shoulder to speak as calmly but firmly as she could give the tremendous pinch to the already trembling people and even though she didn't look like a shinobi at all with such a cherub like features and the lack of any visible weapons, she had to make sure that they will get to the shelter safely. "Follow the instruction that are sent to you telepathica–"

"–Too late, sweetheart!" The first Kumogakure shinobi who has located her and her group has landed right in front of a stunned Sakura who swiftly leaped two steps back to avoid an upcoming collision or an eventual blow, growling to her with a mischievous gleam in his thirsty orbs and dripping with pure malice intent, spilling words that made them all freeze in horror. "Because you are all going to become our prisoners and then sold out like slaves in Kumo!"

.

.

.

* * *

 **A/N:**

* * *

I am very sorry to be starting my A/N on a negative note, but truth is there is something that really pained my heart and made me so sad and depressed, so I want you guys to know -and I am referring especially to the readers that only follow this story thus are not familiar with my writing style, that EVERY SINGLE story of mine is based on RESEARCH! It is totally not in my style to simply sprinkle some random words without any solid ground, because this is something that I will never do. I highly RESPECT both my work and my reader`s knowledge in order not to study and research about domains that I am not familiar with.

I am an incurable perfectionist who wants to be as realistic as possible in my stories. Yes, sometimes I tend to overlook some things because they are not important plot wise or on the contrary I gave it my own touch and interpretation because it was heavily needed, but what it is substantial to the plot I will never treat it superficially. Thus I found myself studying all sorts of domains, from how weapons work, to how a jet is filed, to physics, astronomy, the mysteries behind Pyramids, Math, Chemistry, Physics, Mafia and secret organizations, gastronomy, fashion, martial arts, painting and even a bit of architecture and not to mention medicine which has always been a passion of mine.

Ok, here ends my ranting and please don't misunderstand me guys, I am reading and taking into consideration everything you have to say about my stories and I take it all personal and value every single word that you have to say and also respect your opinions; what YOU think about my work is important to me otherwise I wouldn't be posting it here and share it with you. If what I write or my ideas or my style or everything I write for the matter does offend you in any way, then feel free to say so and I will stop wasting space here with my work and also waste your precious time. I love to write for my soul, it is my oasis of escaping into a sweeter reality than the one I am currently living – which is hard and harsh. But I will only share it with the others if they are willing to read it and find pleasure in doing so, just as I put a lot of heart in writing it.

Of course, if there is any sort of misunderstandings with the plot or why not there are things that I have gotten wrong –because no one is perfect and I can very well mistake and got it wrong, then feel free to point it out and I will be more than pleased to dig into the problem or have a small debate with you over the topic. Feel free to PM me for anything because I will definitely respond to anyone but I beg you guys be mature in your approach and don't come off as highly critique because I might take it the wrong way. I only encourage constructive debates carried out by mature people and not highly critique debates with this touch of cockiness and flaming. Thank you in advance.

Now I am done blabbering, I promise. I just wanted to tell you this.

I will try to answer to the other reviews and then go and spellcheck this chapter so that I can update faster for you to read it.

Thank you **Guest,** I am glad that you liked the previous chapter.

 **GUEST NH** one very peculiar thing about my writing style in general is that I really tend to focus on details –just like you have limned in your review, and this story is the shortest I have written thus I try to keep it this way, so this is the reason why you probably find it annoying that I emphasize that trait about Sasuke but I want to make my point be very clear and this is my approach on Sasuke here. It is that I want to give him a bit of everything while keeping a decent dosage of dark and villainous but of course I want to focus on his inner personality and the clash between how he truly is and what he portrays. I will give him character development. I am sorry if I got him wrong or wrote him in a wrong way. Why Sasuke-kun cannot drink, he is a mature man now isn't he? You were really funny here. Thank you I will try to maintain a balance between Sakura`s attraction to Sasuke and her inner strength because I too do not like her to be an easy prey in a story and she is strong, I trust her and I know she is a strong woman so I want to keep her this way –strong, cute, innocent, mentally strong. Oh, I am a digger of intimacy and passion between these two people and this story will be full of such moments. Oh no no no please do not say such things, this is your opinion that is very important to me and I thank you for sharing it with me, you are now whining, you are kind enough to let me know about the impact of my story to you. Thank you for the consistency of your review!

I am glad to hear that there are people who go for a stronger Sakura **Guest.** I hope that my approach will not be disappointing, thank you for the review.

Thank you **Guest,** I promise to update as fast as I can.

You are very kind with me **Guest** , I am glad that you like my style. Thank you for your words.

I am glad that you think like this **sasusaku dream,** and please please please never say such things and never feel regretful for anything, because to me, the mere fact that you have let me know that you read and follow this story is already more than I can hope, thank you so much! Never apologize for something like this to me, you are an amazing reader with or without a review –my love for you doesn't lie in the number of reviews, don't worry. I will do my best to keep it this way even though I sometimes must focus on some other thing but I will do them justice in my next updates, I can promise you this. I am a die hard Sasuke and Sakura fan and not to mention my favorite scenes to write is romance between them. I could even write an entire story will only intimacy between those two characters and I will never get bored of it. This story WILL have a lot of steamy moments, you have my word. So THIS is exactly the type of readers that I am addressing to, people like you who correctly grasp my concept and my idea, congratulations I couldn't have stated it any better myself, yes Yin and Yang are gravitating around this story and there will be some Chinese influences in it about Sakura and her role. Thank you for limning Sakura like this, because this is exactly what I am trying to portray through her character. I want to be realistic and I also don't like my characters to be OOC because forgoing their human side is pretty childish in a story if I am to be honest and I am being sincere with you. I am glad to know that the core of the message of this story is interesting and you like my sways between the character`s psychological battle of morals and opinions. This is what attracts me to the real manga as well and thus I want to preserve this idea into my story. This goes without saying that I won't have her climb his bed so easily; in fact I take my time and carefully prepare the moment of the lemons in my stories and this will be no exception. I also realize that and what Sakura embodies as a Priestess. You feel like this? I am thrilled to find out that you enjoyed their kisses, I like to describe these kind of scenes and I put emotions between my words that I try to make them as filigree and romantic as possible for you to fully enjoy and live the scene at its fullest. Hehe I do not want to spoil anything but also there is going to be drama and jealousy here pretty soon. I hope you liked this update as well. Thank you for everything, for every word and the beautiful meaning behind it, please take care of yourself!

The fact that you feel like this is wonderful to know, **Neo** , I hope to continue to make you jolly in the future as well. Thank you so much!

Thank you for thinking like this **Guest!**

I am doing my best to preserve this strong attitude of Sakura **Maram** , and also bring her closer to Sasuek and their future interactions is something that I will take my time in carefully working on and planning and oh, it is so merry to know that you found humor in this. You know that I fancy humor in my stories, even the darkest ones because we need laughter in our lives and… so does Sasuke in this story hehe. Yeah the bond between Sakura and Naruto is something that I am also taking my time in constructing. I hope to get it right and not disappoint my readers . Of course you do a lot because your support to my stories and not just this particular one is amazing and you have no idea how much it means to me and for this I am deeply grateful to you, thank you so much, you are doing more than you thing with every word you say. Thank you for being so patient and kind with me everytime. I hope that this chapter was pleasant to read.

 **Sasusakulover** the thing that is incredible here is your words and the fact that you decided to share such an uplifting review with me, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will do my best to detail every single scene in order for this story to flow smoothly and my readers to understand what I want to say, I promise. Of course that I will try to respond to every review because you take your time to share it with me what you think about this story and this feedback is more than I could ever expect for my work. How rude and inconsiderate will I be as an author not to appreciate and show my appreciation to my readers? You took your time to write something to me in return so I will naturally show my deepest gratitude, thank you so much!

Hm… ok I will give you a bit of insight and tell you that you fill find Karin`s reaction pretty soon **Guest** kowing that many of you guys wait for it. I will try to be as fast as possible with my updates, hope you enjoyed this chapter.

I am happy that you have found me **Guest** and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for telling me that you like this story, I hope that I will not let you down with my next updates. All my best regards, thank you for the support and for your kind words!

I will do my best **Guest** and not disappoint in the future, I promise. Thank you for the review!

Thank you **Guest.**

Well I am just a little drop in this oasis of amazing stories and I am very lucky that you have found me **Guest** I hope that you enjoy my story, thank you so much!

Like always, I have nothing to comment on the flawless logic of yours, **itsbritneybitch**. It is such a treat to find out such astute people who go in such a fine psychological details and depths of my stories and many times you leave me in awe at how many details you can pinpoint and make my story seem more insightful than it is, thank you for being my reader, the honor is all mine. You have understood exactly what I am trying to do with Sakura and Sasuke at the moment and damn… I cannot hide anything from you, you are so keen and sharp in depicting and catching every emotion and every meaning of my words. Ever considered becoming a literary critic or a philosopher or psychologist? Of course not, I want this Sakura to be realistic and humble as her manga character. Hehe you know how much I like Sasuke`s character and you know the way I like to highlight every feature in my stories and this is no exception. I feel like the manga could use his reflective side more than just his lost in the darkness vibe, although I still find him mesmerizing as a character. Hm, I don't know what to say yet, but I will let the feelings that he aroused in her be more important than his actual gestures. I did? Thank you, I am glad it went out better than I thought. I have fun writing those scenes between Naruto and Sasuke especially since I like to sprinkle humor in my stories and Naruto is such an endless oasis of humor. I will take my time and make more Sakura and Naruto interactions, of course. So it was funny? Good because I don't want Sasuke and Sakura`s interactions to be so stiff and stern, it will be boring. Oh my God, you were awesome here hehe you are right. I know that you have an unique style in making parallels to my other stories, such a genius you are. Haha I couldn't stop myself from inserting that line from Kiba, I laughed so hard at his declaration in the manga so I just had to put it in here as well. Yeah you are right, it`s definitely symbolic! But then again, who would want a national holiday for dogs? I am glad you like this, though you can clearly see that my updates are definitely related to the short chapters. You think? Because this is the most simplistic story of mine. Heck even my horror one is more filigree plot wise, but oh well… I am writing this more on pure feeling than complexity. Of course, I will not be superficial. Thank you for the amazing support. No no, I am definitely no genius here we have already established that, you are spoiling me too much. Mine too! I fangirled over Hebi Sasuke like crazy! He was an amazing villain rather than an antagonist. I agree with you. Oho, you know that I will not be greedy with lemons hehe. Thank you a million times for always being so consistent and compelling in your reviews and taking your time to let me know how you feel, you are definitely a walking legend! Take care and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

 **Guest,** thank you for the review, I will do my best!

I will keep her as strong willed as possible **Guest,** thank you!

 **2lazy2login** – hehe this name gets to me everytime, you are so funny- thank you so much!

Thank you **guest**!

It means a lot to know that you are thinking like this **Guest.** Thank you and I hope that you found this update just as interesting.

Thank you **guest** , I am happy to know that you like it!

I am the one to be grateful to you **hifi** , and the fact that you think like this means a lot to me, thank you from the bottom of my heart. To be honest, the AU universe is the one I am more comfortable than the NV in writing stories. It is just that I want to come up with new scenarios from real life and integrate fictional characters in there the best I can. You are the one who made my day, thank you so much, hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

Maybe, who knows **juntaisuke** , hehe. But nope, not yet. I want to spicy up things a little bit. Thank you for the insight, hope you liked this chapter as well.

Hearing that you did like the previous chapter is awesome and makes me really happy, **sakuraXxXShisui** , and the fact that you are so good in grasping my interpretation of Sasuke`s character makes me so jolly! Yes this is exactly how I view him and the manner of emphasizing his complex personality, the way I view it. I am glad that you liked that, I find it funny and refreshing to write a cute version of Sakura and add to the humor. To answer the question, no she didn't hear because I don't want her to find it out like this. Names are symbolic and important to me, thus I want her to find out in a more complex situation. I am relieved to know that the scene was on your liking, I want it to be hot and I put a lot of effort in choosing the words to match the aura and the mood, lemons and hot scenes are my favorite to write in a story, as you know. I will always take my time with them, I promise you. Of course they will *wink wink* I cannot waste such an opportunity for some teasing and jealousy. Thank you for the support and kind words, I hope that you will enjoy the story in the future too and that this chapter wasn't disappointing. You are amazing!

I am glad to hear this, **Guest,** thank you!

And hearing such beautiful words always brings a smile to me, **Guest** , what a heartwarming way to convey a message, thank you so much! I will try my best to update as fast as I can, promise!

No no never say such things **Cruelman,** because there is nothing negative about your words, this is your opinion which I highly respect and I thank you for being so sincere with me and so very TACTFUL and elegant. Of course that we all have stories and authors that we follow because their style drowns us in and authors that cannot get to us, I agree with you. Maybe you can share it with me what do you find boring about my style? If I don't ask for too much, it would be interesting and constructive for me to find out. Oh, it is? I am glad to hear, because one of the points of this story is to keep up this erotic side of their interactions, I want to give the characters justice in this aspect. I am glad to find out that it works what I am doing. Hehe you are funny and not the first one to tell me that you like Sasuke in my stories better than his manga self. I am trying to bring to the light traits in him that I feel are dormant or unexploited and make him as interesting and complex as he is fascinating to me. Hope to keep it on the right track. I am the one to thank you for sharing your impression about this story with me, and I hope that I haven't disappoint with this update.

Well it comes easier to write this story **Guest,** since it is shorter than the others I have written and comes somehow as… more relaxing and I can focus on the relationship between Sasuke and Sakura more. Thank you!

Thank you for reading this story of mine too, **ILoveSXS** , and sorry to disappoint, no Tsunade and Kakashi yet, just some Kumo shinobi to add to the intensity of the chapter. Hope you liked it!

I am glad that the feelings I am trying to convey have reached to you, **anime1angel** **,** thank you so much you are so kind and patient with me! They are both losing their head in this tumultuous twisted carousel, aren't they? This is exactly where I get my drama and intimacy from hehe. I will focus on every interaction like I always do in my stories, because you cannot properly portray a character without putting him in relation with the others, no worries. Well as you can see this story is shorter than the others and I want it to be like this so I can hurry the updates. Thank you for following me and my stories and for the kind words and the fact that you take your time to even review means a lot, you are incredible!

Thank you **Guest**!

The fact that you liked the kissing scene means a lot **C.S,** thank you for letting me know how you felt about it! You are too kind with me and I do not deserve such a prize from you, ah, you make me blush. I promise to take my time and always come up with as much descriptions and feelings in my story, I promise . Hehe I will I will no worries. Thank you for reading and liking my story!

Now there is something that I want to say about Sasuke and Sakura`s relationship. As you have flawlessly realized it, this is heavily based on antithesis and similitudes between the characters. I am trying my best to keep a harmony and a balance between their characters and at the same time not diverge from their purpose and role, but at the same time make them get closer to each other and this is where the real challenge for me as a writer lies –not divagating and straying from the way I started crayoning their personalities. Of course, for them to become romantic I have to interject into their personalities at the beginning and have them compromise, open up more, discover more and forgo parts of their characters a little bit in order to create a connection. O am not sure whether you guys have understood what I mean or not, but I hope that you will not start to that where the characters are heading to or how I portray them further.

This being said, thank you guys a million times… in fact thank you an ENDLESS times for everything, for all the support, for reading, following, reviewing and giving me and my story a chance, I bow to you in gratitude and not to mention thanks for putting up with my small rant.

And I apologize once again for my ranting at the beginning of my A/N, but I wanted to let you know that I value and repsect my readers too much to be superficial in my stories and insult your intelligence, so onegai shimasu, gomen ne!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.


	6. SHE

**::CHAPTER VI – SHE… ::**

* * *

The first thing that stood out from the rest of his distinctive attire and the forehead protector with the symbol of Kumogakure no Sato gleaming proudly into the sun, was the pair of two short blades honed in quite an outré shape of a tree`s branches which didn't look like designed for fighting but rather being used as tools or devices for some sort of Jutsu that they possessed.

"Sooo…" The Lightning shinobi started with a mischievous glint in his elfin orbs and a derisive smirk playing on his lips, making him look like an original degenerate, licking his lips deliberately slow and giving her a perusal from head to toe clearly enjoying what he was seeing.

"I take it that you want to go first sweety, aren't you? I hope you are a feisty one `cos boy I love it when they _scream_!"

Somehow, his treat was so cheap and dumbfounded in comparison to Uchiha`s similar words but then again, this male albeit he was more extrovert and self-praising, didn't look sturdier or more potent than the ebony haired rogue ninja, not to mention he was completely tactless and not in the bit impressive.

But he was menacing in his appearance and not to mention that he had more allies to provide backup than her who was alone in the middle of a choir of scared peasants who froze in horror behind her refusing to move or run away and Sakura, who was having an inner debate with herself trying to ponder her options with much calm and analyze every single chance of preventing those Kumo shinobi to bring their corrupted plan to fruition.

Plus… her astute hawk emerald orbs landed on the abnormal swords that he was securing in both his hands and his two colleagues who didn't jump from atop the roof to join their comrade possessed similar weapons, so this particular trivia helped Sakura conclude that the swords were indeed not used for combat and soon enough, she realized exactly what scope they were serving when a pretty familiar resonance of a metallic squeak filled the space around them, charging it to the point where the dainty hair along her forearms stood erect.

Her trained kunoichi instinct made her shriek two large steps back from the Kumo shinobi when the male crisscrossed the two bizarre swords above his head and a blue tinged electrical discharge shimmered along the two metallic blades.

"I am going to definitely _enjoy_ myself later on, but now I have to take care of the future prisoners." He addressed the stunning rose haired woman before him whose melodious frame immediately dropped into a fighting defensive stance, as her silky tendrils of bubblegum locks fluttered into the gust of a charged wind that oozed from his signature Jutsu.

His two comrades did the same and this answered to her unspoken question –as in why didn't they leaped and joined their Kumogakure friend and instead, they remained suspended and waiting patiently atop the roof; they were probably using their Jutsu in sync enhancing the power of their Lightning chakra nature and this detail was digested by Sakura`s brilliant mind.

They were either weak shinobi whose Jutsu was only strong and dependable if performed by the tree of them in complete harmony, or they were using some sort of insanely strong destructive technique which worked as a shield or a lethal weapon which charged and shot on a large area, like a canon blast.

The man in front of her was the one to be connected to the ground just like the principle of a lightning rod was used to conduct electricity, but he was probably using his Lightning chakra nature to both collect and redirect the electricity from what his colleagues sent to him and this is the reason why they remained on a higher level than him.

Basically, they were trying to 'tame' the lightning and manipulate it through their blades and control it with their chakra, which only meant that the lightning they were creating that was buzzing through the interfaces of their blades was only as strong as their chakra was, and judging from the fact that they were Kumo shinobi they were probably resourceful.

 _Damn it._

"Oi, don't you forget our orders. Boss won't be too pleasant to find out that you killed someone instead of abducting them and sell them as slaves!"

Oh, how Sakura mentally bristled at the way they referred to her beloved villagers and the totally churlish smirks that played upon their lips as the three of them charged their interlaced blades. Plus the way he referred to their _superior_ … did they mean that someone of a higher rank has sent them to attack the Leaf Village?

Was the Raikage himself the one to order his shinobi to take advantage of the loss of their Hokage and finally have the 'pleasure' of being the one to conquer one of the most prosperous Village from the Five Nations?

She needed to formulate a rapid counterstrategy and no matter the prize she had to pay, Sakura was adamant in protecting those people and this is the reason why she didn't waste a heartbeat when she whirled her head behind her shoulder and her nightingale tune took a slightly more calloused resonance than her normal suave inflection when she ordered the villagers sternly, but not losing humanity and sweetness in her approach. "I said GO! Run and save your lives and let _me_ handle this criminals!"

An obnoxious snort has made Sakura volteface her stance expecting a blow as she balanced her body weight on her dominant right leg that was positioned in front of her left one with her knee slightly bent forward as the Kumo shinobi that was most likely to deliver a frontal attack cackled rudely at her. "Guys, did you hear how this _bitch_ has just called us? Honey, don't compare us to those nitwits of pathetic rogue shinobi who don't even have a home and their asses are hunted by every single Shinobi Nation!"

"We are proud Lightning shinobi, we aren't some petty criminals, honey!"

Sakura fetched a perfectly curled eyebrow up at their ridiculous words understanding it now that it wasn't the affiliation to a village the thing that brought nobility and dignity to a shinobi, on the contrary, it was their brave and compassionate essence of a true shinobi the one to create a proud village.

From this point of view, someone who attacked a defenseless village instead of providing assistance when it fell prey to the enemy, like the Lightning shinobi were doing, was far _worse_ than a regular rogue nin`s dirty work.

Because she has seen the way Uchiha was interacting and cooperating with his dark clan of deviant rogue shinobi who rebelled against the current system, and they were definitely bound by a precise Code; they listened to Sasuke`s word but their Leader was definitely far more contemplative and calculating in his approach and honestly, judging from the way he acted so far by not attacking any of the villagers, he proved to have more decency and morality than those Kumo shinobi and their bloodthirsty blockhead of a Raikage.

It was just unfortunate that Sakura was only started to realize just how right Sasuke was even though he wasn't the most eloquent and communicative man alive, because she lived into a fairytale up until now; as a Priestess her world only revolved around the wonders and miracles that nature conceived and focused her powers on helping the other people in need but she never dug underneath that fake façade of happiness to get to the kernel of all the malice, the seed of this impure world and she now realized just how many things remained unveiled.

She had to completely change her manner of thinking and the way she viewed the world so far from her Shrine was definitely nothing resembling the one she was now living in, because as savage, rough and arrogant this world was, this was what the peasants had to deal with every day.

This was the _real_ panorama of the world that Sasuke was talking about, the one who was crayoned in both penumbras and light and not the one that she falsely presumed to be _reality._

"Even the most ruthless rogue nins," A humorless smile has slide along the lush heart shape contours of her lips as Sakura has caught something gleaming at the corner of her viridian orbs, but she has been discreet and prudent enough to not askew her stare from the Kumo shinobi`s derisive smug one, so that he won't notice what she was looking at, already feeling the sketch of a plan being contoured on the canvas of her mind. "have their hierarchy and rules and definitely more dignity than scoundrels like you."

She only started to grasp the concept now –that the mere belonging to a village didn't mean a thing if the _heart_ wasn't connected to it and nor did it signified that it made a man a more noble person.

"You," The Kumo shinobi narrowed his orbs dangerously as his entire form charged with an electric voltage while the Jutsu started to catch form when the bolt from the swords of his two friends hit the tip of his own entwined swords in some sort of a fish net formed by their swords combined, as a clear sign that the time for jokes was over and Sakura was glad that he was finally down to business because the libidinous attitude bothered her.

Those shinobi were far worse enemies than Uchiha and his group and definitely less gracious and splendid.

The Priestess was counting on a crazy strategy considering the fact that she was completely unable to mold chakra or feel it running through her fingertips, praying that logic and the laws of physics wouldn't betray her. If it wouldn't come out as flawlessly as she anticipated, then she will be turned into a pile of _ashes._

But she had no other viable choice, it was the sole chance she got to save those people and stop this shinobi. Somehow, she guessed that the enemy that was currently occupying the Village was fighting the Kumo shinobi and even though it pained her to be so pathetic and count on the rogue shinobi led by Uchiha in his thirst for revenge, she trusted _him_ and his gang of rogue insanely powerful shinobi to cease away this threat.

They _had_ to be stronger than those lame Kumo shinobi, she was positive that they had more Jutsus in their arsenal and if they were rogues, then they were probably in possession of more Forbidden Techniques than the Lightening shinobi and they were definitely more clever and scheming since they took down Sarutobi himself.

So they were planning to somehow impale them all with a striking lightning technique and then capture them, huh?

Sakura was hardly violent in her delicate suave and caring nature; she has trained to become a fine elegant kunoichi and her heart as a shinobi was dedicated to the arts of ninja in terms of training her mind and spirit to reach another level of strength, one that resided in the heart and not in the body itself and ninja arts symbolized much more than just numerous hand seals channeling her inner force to crush her adversaries; no, she has trained to open up her _mind_ and enhance her senses to the real meaning of the universe –of the _life_ itself and find the true meaning behind the concept of a ninja.

But she was quite positive that she was sneering inside and bridling her inner self so as she won't snap at the idea of having her chakra suppressed; her _wind_ nature chakra which was strong against those shinobi`s _lightning_ chakra was restrained when it could have been so useful to neutralize and counterattack their aerial attack, because judging from the way they were projecting and channeling their own chakra through the blades and the shape of a spider`s net, seemingly they were trying to form some sort of a cage and trap them all inside it with no chance to escape.

The villager`s wails and ragged breaths were roaring through her eardrums, reverberating behind her and Sakura clearly understood that they were too afraid to move or run away, all having their orbs glued to her form as Sakura somehow managed to stand out like an undecided involuntarily hero.

So far, no one seemed to recognize her but this was only natural since Sakura hardly shown her face to the world and it wasn't because of arrogance like Sasuke said, but because this is the way that she has been instructed to do since the times when she was a little aspiring Priestess –someone who was guarding something of such an importance must remain a mystery figure among the others, someone not to be recognized, a deceiving face who was hiding into the lights and not into the shadows, but a face which was a mystery to everyone else.

This was the only way she had in order not to reveal who she was and lead the enemy straight into the den of Konoha`s most sacred ancestral _treasure_ and not only.

"Ninja Arts: _Divine Cages of Lightning_ no Jutsu!" She has been correct in her assumption, those shinobi have suddenly spiked up their enhanced chakra which was blitzing along their blades amassing their lightning chakra into a sizzling sphere, as the two Kumo shinobi from the top of the Academy channeled it into the blade of the one before Sakura and his entire form glowed like a Lighthouse piercing through the sunset in a strong electric deep blue hint, signalizing that they were attempting to cage them like nightingales and luckily enough they seemed to be taking her as a joke, since her angelic delicate features didn't strike as a threat to them.

It took her exactly one heartbeat to make an acrobatic fluid flip back successfully landing near the tallest tree in front of the Academy where an old _swing_ was hanging on a high branch and a _kunai_ was stuck into its thick trunk and in one swift snatch, she hauled it from the wood and swirled on her heel like an enthralling ballerina with the aura of a high class kunoichi and while the Kumo Shinobi performed their jutsu, Sakura did her trick.

It was too late to stop themselves from creating an arch from their electric discharge and give it the form of a cage, so they could all stare in sheer disbelief how Sakura hurled the kunai through the air and pinned the leaf shaped blade into the ground to where the Jutsu was taking the distinctive form of a maze of lightning 'bars' encompassing the area of where she and the villagers were standing, as the electricity surrounded them and immediately rushed to the kunai that was shoved into the ground diagonally and, stunning every single eye that was set on her, she literarily leaped and landed with her right leg on the handle, perfectly balancing herself like her body was only crayoned from shadows and light, defying gravity.

She resembled a Phoenix Fire in her majestic soar from the ashes back to Paradise as her form was statuesque, limber and angelic and she arched her neck to gaze to where a bold of lightning was discharging from the peak of the arcade, down to trap them inside and before it hit the ground like all the others did, dispatched in the form of a perfect circle, Sakura crisscrossed her wrists above her head in a similar fashion to how the jutsu of the enemy worked as they held their swords in that distinctive position and waited for the bolt to hit her and not the ground.

She just prayed to Kami-sama that she wasn't mistaken in her hypothesis otherwise she will be roast meat in less than a nanosecond.

All the orbs and dropped jaws followed as the exquisite mysterious woman with the most incandescent viridian-golden eyes let her palms face the sky and the electric bolt hit her wrists, landing exactly where those bizarre pulsating purple lights were surrounding her wrists like two bracelets made of fine smoke and the unexpected happened.

In the moment that violent electrical discharge from their technique hit Sasuke`s Jutsu that was etched on her skin, it recognized the same chakra nature of lightning and not surprisingly the Uchiha`s chakra infused into the technique was strong enough to dispel the combination of the _A_ ranked prison technique summoned by the three Kumo Shinobi, dispersing it and breaking the form of the cage and since she used the kunai as a foot hold, Sakura hasn't been electrocuted when she used her body as a lightning conductor and redirect that discharge of chakra through her body and onto the ground; the three pairs of swords of the Kumogakure shinobi run out of power just like a device running out of battery.

Not only she managed to absorb all that amazing mass of energy from the enemy taking it all into her own petite frame, but Sakura has reached another amazing conclusion, finding out something about the ebony haired Uchiha`s technique that she wasn't sure that even the caster himself was aware of, namely that the Jutsu was both restraining her wind chakra and _protected_ her from the attacks and she didn't know whether it was just a coincidence that the lightning chakra resonated or it was truly intentionally so that no one will touch her as long as she was his prisoner, but she owned him her very life because all that she felt in those glimmers of time as she let the Jutsu discharge into the ground, were the familiar tickles along her body and she resisted the urge to _giggle._

And it wasn't the enemy`s jutsu the one to trigger such reactions from her, but Sasuke`s own chakra the one to make her feel so ticklish and no pain, and Sakura surmised that even though the lightning chakra nature was the same in every shinobi, it wasn't manifesting in the same _manner_ to every of them, meaning that each shinobi had their own imprint that they ebbed their techniques with and she could clearly limn _his_ as being so peerless and pleasant, albeit more lethal than three strong Kumo shinobi combined.

The moment she felt all the electricity dissipate and empty itself onto the ground, Sakura unglued her toes from the kunai ascending into the air with the same unparalleled enthralling elegance of an ancient Priestess warrior, grasping the kunai while her body came perpendicular to the ground and she stretched her body like a candle, taking it out of the soil and did two flips back, landing in front of the disarray crowd of stunned villagers, holding the fine honed weapon in front of her, emerald orbs blazing like two diamonds glowing into the sun; the three Kumo shinobi barely kept their jaws from mirroring the ones of the peasants', looking in disbelief at the astute pink haired beauty and the way she ridiculed them in such a genius way, not understanding what happened and what kind of technique she used to neutralize their own, but it was clearly something strong enough to counteract.

"Y-You," One of the two who were standing on the roof of the Academy now landed beside their comrade outstretched, his finger to the Priestess, stammering rather comically to her, glimmering in sheer puzzlement. "you have a lightning chakra nature?!"

She wished she had one but unfortunately her nature was one that was antagonistic to the lightning nature and if she was to be honest, if she wouldn't have been restrained by Sasuke`s jutsu, she wasn't positive that her power alone would have been enough to block that powerful technique and now Sakura started to realize why was the Village enveloped in trepidations and explosions blasting all over them coming from the Front Gates where the entrance of the Village turned into a mini battlefield; those Kumo shinobi have always been a force to be reckoned with, living up to their reputation.

She didn't answer to them; instead Sakura half focused her senses to depict the telepathic technique and try to locate the source of it and what it was conveying to them, but it went silent probably because the caster has stopped communicating to them for some reason.

"It doesn't matter, slice them to shreds guys!" The first shinobi to holler to his comrades was the first one to charge forward, scissoring his two swords as he electrically charged them again, but Sakura stood her ground not taking a single step back and try to askew from the upcoming blow, no; she stood her ground just like a true shinobi with the heart of steel would do, and her forest green orbs turned lush like the very nature`s entire essence was entrapped into her irises and adjusted the grip she had on the kunai so as to be prepared for either an upcoming attack or a block, knowing that they will use the lightning chakra to try and hit her, but Uchiha`s intricate jutsu decorating her wrists in a filigree of Kanji symbols and glowing in a lilac radiance around her wrists is going to protect her from those people.

The metallic sound of her kunai has resonated through the space in a whirlwind of an electric storm surging from the sky to the ground, as the three honed blades collided in a powerful clash and Sakura found her weapon being caged between the two bizarre shaped swords that were enhanced by electricity, but she wasted no more seconds in being a certain victim, so she swung her hips in a fluid rotation that was faster than a wink of an eye as she let the kunai be clasped by the enemy and she delivered a blow on his sternum that was conveniently visible from the distinctive Kumo attire that dotted his muscled form in a certain chakra point that she knew it was anatomically more vulnerable to any blow that lacked strength but demanded high precision, and almost made him take one step back as he growled low on his chest.

She will never make it out alive without her chakra, but the enemy`s lightning one will never manage to impale her because once again, as she made double sure that she hit him with a rather pretentious blow with the back of her palm, Sakura made sure that her wrist was as close to the shield of lightning that he created around his form so that the two resonances will nullify one another and it did the trick.

"You bitch…" Enraged to the maximum that such a dainty creature which resembled the fairy of a fairytale forest and Nordic elf features has managed to make them look like nitwits and break their strategy to capture the peasants who didn't manage to make it into the hideouts like most of the others, the Kumo shinobi swing his blades in the air aligning them with the ground and tried to pierce her through the heart with a chakra infused attack, not actually understanding how her strange Jutsu worked taking advantage of the fact that she lacked any form of strength rather than good accuracy, but he failed.

Sensing the flicker in the air enhanced by all her senses going haywire anticipating the attack, Sakura lowered her body so as his attack was wasted into the air as the blades slide through her silky soft hair that fluttered behind her agile form and all the damage that it did was one single strand of her long diamond pink hair floating between the edge of his blade and detaching from her scalp in a slow motion effect and next thing he knew, the leaf shaped blade of her kunai pierced through his guard that grow alarmingly wobbly on the lower part of his body and this was a trivia that Sakura has caught with her attentive eye and she fructified her chance to stab his kneecap and make him lose balance.

"AHHH! Fuck!" The male dropped on his knee holding his injured leg as he roared to his colleagues, while he totally missed an embarrassing attempt of taking her by surprise by thrusting his blade into her hip as Sakura flawlessly and easily evaded him by sidestepping to thrust the kunai into the ground right in front of an older male and his niece who were holding each other and were looking in horror how an electrical stream rippled like the Devil`s ocean rolling towards them and blocked the hit just in time.

"GET HER, YOU FOOLS!" The defeated Kumo shinobi shrieked to his two comrades who wasted no time in attempting the same hit as before only without their friend, elevating their swords and crossing them above their heads.

 _No problem_ , she slide in front of them and stopped as a barrier between them and the peasants, attempting to use the same trick to fudge them as the first time, but this time they weren't this stupid to fall for the same technique once again because instead of trying to secure their 'prey' they swerved their strategy and pointed their swords to Sakura so as if they were charging to her full force.

Indeed, the strong radiance of the small ball of electricity was mirroring into her viridian orbs and this time, Sakura wasn't sure that she will be able to stop this with just Uchiha` s chakra restraining hers; she needed something stronger to at least make it ricochet and not completely stop and dispel it. But what?

"It`s always such a pity to take on such a beautiful lamb like you but I am afraid that the time for you to go to sleep has come _babe_ ," One of them that was on her left side smirked hauntingly at her while their improvised weapon has completely charged. "you can stay your _praying_ love because you are going to die!"

Oh, sweet irony to be reminded to pray to a Priestess, Sakura noted sarcastically, not losing her head for a moment. She remained lucid until the very end because losing her mind into the tumult meant absolutely defeat and this was not an option.

If she managed to outsmart an Uchiha then she can do it again with this clowns who were definitely less clever than him, even without her chakra.

"Say goodbye!" That hollow sound of a shrieking sound of a wrecked ship deafened her as the shimmering glow nearly blinded Sakura as she was staring straight into the core of the bolt that their chakra conjured and gave form, mentally praising them for managing such a change in the chakra nature, waiting for the blow to come because her only option was to aim and divert it once more.

She braced herself for the blow as she dipped the kunai into the ground and attempted to step on it as her palms were flipped backwards to take the hit and not let it hit the innocent people behind –even if it will definitely kill her, but at least her body will naturally discharge it into the ground without letting it pass _through_ her.

She has felt it, tasted it, saw it and heard it clearly how the bolt illuminated the entire area and she knew that it will be over before she blinked and only the speed of a thought was faster than that blow which enveloped her in a maze of a shimmering light, then complete vacuum as everything that the senses could compel turned into nothingness, only-

* * *

She _didn't_ die.

Because something _solid_ has come like an impenetrable wall between the Priestess and the blow and magically, she was still alive and… in the darkness? _What's going on?_

Her unvoiced question has been answered five seconds later when she felt something that veiled her form and blinded her emerald shimmering orbs in an unfamiliar eclipse being blown away, realizing that the shield has been entirely made of _wood._

A pretty large igloo like shelter built entirely from hard oak wood has enclosed around her and the villagers protecting them, but the force of the impact blown away the top of it, leaving them once again exposed but this time, there was someone else coming between the Kumo shinobi who once again amassed together as they were seemingly trying to heal the wound of their fallen comrade as one of them was a Medical ninja and the first thing that Sakura noticed about this unknown male was the symbol on his forehead protector –it was a _Leaf_ Shinobi with the same scratch on his forehead and a creepy looking face which was very fitted for a horror campfire story for kids.

"Darn it, they already headed to here." He seemed to be panting and gasping for air as rivulets of sweat were rolling along his temples as a clear sign that he has been fighting before coming to their rescue.

His voice was tender and calm, lacking malice intent and he turned his head over his shoulder to gaze at the emerald eyed woman who was standing in his shadow and then shuffled his olive orbs which were round like two moons carved in his pale face, to her wrists, fetching an eyebrow up.

"You are Sasuke's prisoner aren't you? The one they call the Priestess of Tea, right?" He clearly recognized the Uchiha`s distinctive Jutsu cast on her and the obsidian eyed male only used on her exclusively, for the other prisoners wore normal chakra restrainers in the form of a special metallic bands that had a formula to suppress the flow of chakra by resonating with the chakra points, but Sakura`s was completely different and more complex.

More… _personal._

" _Sasuke_...?" Two fine-grained elegant eyebrows slant towards the bridge of her nose as they depicted a mild confusion ,not understanding who was he referring to, but she was quick in catching his meaning when logic stroke the wheels of her brain that were whirling frenetically; this rogue Leaf Shinobi who had a scratch along the symbol of Leaf on his forehead protector was referring to _Uchiha_ –her captor.

She has finally found out his name; it was Uchiha _Sasuke_. Sasuke… ironically enough he was named after Sarutobi`s father, the same Kage that died by his hand. Life had such a dark cynic sense of humor, she couldn't help but notice, but never in life was accidental.

Sakura couldn't help but agree that he had such an elegant name –Uchiha _Sasuke_ , it rolled so pleasantly out of the tongue and had such an erotic resonance.

Gathering her thoughts as they seemed to drift to some dangerous figments, Sakura straightened her spine and nodded once to the man who was using a technique that he wasn't supposed to use as he was clearly not affiliated to the original owner -Senju Hashirama.

"Go, if something happens to you or the villagers _I_ will get into some serious trouble." Emerald orbs widened in puzzlement as the gentle man simply spoke giving her a sheepish smile that was genuine but forced as he was clearly exhausted from his battles so far and this detail somehow answered to her question – Sasuke and his men were indeed trying to fight back the latest enemies from Kumogakure and the idea of an enemy _protecting_ the territory that they have just claimed, fighting for supremacy of the Leaf and proving that they were the upper males was laughable and pitiful. If only the Leaf Shinobi could fructify the chance and cease away all the enemies or at least regroup…

But what truly befogging her was the depths of his words. Why did he mean by he will get into trouble if something happened to the peasants and _her?_ It couldn't be some sort of twisted meaning of Sasuke being _worried_ for them now, was it?

Because he was the one to basically bring them down in less than two days and crush every single hope; and now he was worried for them?

 _Like Hell he was._

Albeit… if she was to be a totally impartial judge and rewind his actions from a third POV, Sakura would reluctantly admit that the last Uchiha didn't quite harm her and based on what this man was saying and the erratic movements of the peasants, he didn't lay a finger on them either, which was weird.

Was he truly genuine in what he told her about his idea of a new ordeal? Was he really someone who was trying to start a _revolution_ and paint the face of the entire ninja system in his colors, and not just some empty words to justify his behavior?

"What is your name?" Sakura found herself asking the strange man who was using the first Hokage's Jutsu and he surprisingly answered back without reticence being quite friendly for a rogue nin.

"You can call me Yamato." Without saying anything more, he then he turned around just in time to counteract another upcoming electric attack of one of the Kumo shinobi who dashed to him at top speed having his blades tipped to the ground and sending two rolling waves of winding electrical discharges, entwining his fingers before his orbs, shouting. "Mokuton no Jutsu!"

Two trees pierced through the ground above them as the pavement trembled under the force of the impact, closed in around the three shinobi, successfully stopping their movements and suspending them above their heads as Sakura and the other peasants arched their necks to gaze at them in total awe.

Sakura was quick to snap out of the reverie and immediately her worried conscience travelled to the inhabitants of Konoha, as she gave them a reassuring smile that was so angelic and innocent. "Minna-sama, follow me, we have to get to the hideout now while Yamato keeps the Kumo shinobi trapped in here!" This was the opportunity she needed in order to take them to a safer place and save them and then she could join the man and help him fight this sudden enemy. The distance from the Academy to the hideout was short and they will make it there in no time.

But they didn't obey to her command, no one taking one single step or moved a muscle and this stunned Sakura till depths; instead of dashing out of the dangerous place seeing that Yamato was having troubles in regulating his breaths and keeping the Jutsu active, the villagers were gasping and pointing at her, stammering.

"Y-You are the _Priestess_ of Tea?" One younger fellow who couldn't be more than thirty pointed his finger at her, then finding his voice –which was the voice of the entire group of villagers, and accusing her. "You... were with that _traitor_ who killed our Kage and destroyed our lives and this Village!"

"You are just as much to blame as them by working with the enemy! And to think that we used to look up to you and _worship_ you, damn it!"

Sakura gasped out loud once again as her jadeite orbs went wide in horror, shaking her head and placing a hand above her heart, gripping the two folds of her kimono that cupped her chest into an elegant V, stuttering in shock.

"What– no, I am just a prisoner like yo–" She even held her wrists in front of them to prove it that she was indeed at the mercy of Uchiha Sasuke and his complicated Jutsu, but their disbelief and mistrust was percolating from the mass of people.

"–why should we trust a _traitor_?! You could lead us to a trap!"

"You betrayed us! You are another _monster_ like them!"

Burning tears aligned with the curve of her long eyelashes as she kept on listening to those cruel words that were totally not liming her current situation and she was chakra restrained as well, now being reduced to a helpless normal person and she tried to explain this to the confused people, but the people were backing up from her. "N–No, this is wrong, please try to–"

She has been interrupted by a soft curse coming from Yamato whose earth Jutsu was weak against the lightning release, as the two uninjured Kumo shinobi managed to strike the mini forest that Yamato has created in half making the trunks pop and scatter all over the place, jumping and landing right in front of them; they were seemingly using lighting variations and were very proficient in the changing of the chakra nature in order to create various shapes of their jutsu and increase the power and the precision of it and to think that Sakura had a strong Jutsu against lightning, while the enemy had a weaker one and they were both trying to fight this Kumogakure shinobi without success.

"Please you have to trust me it was never in my intention to hurt you!" The staggering Priestess swung to the villagers once again as their stares changed from horrified to displeased and reproachful as they were whispering between them and pointing to her, giving her all varieties of stares. "You have to get to a safer place, _onegai shimasu_!"

But once again they wouldn't listen to her ant that telepathic message coming from Yamanaka has stopped emitting, so she lost the credibility. "Oh dear Kami–sama..." The rose haired kunoichi cursed softly under her breath not able to stop herself as she fine-combed her fingers through her soft hair brushing the fallen locks away off her temples, addressing this Yamato shinobi.

"Can you undo this Jutsu for me, please?" He threw a quick peek to her as Sakura revealed her wrists to him, taking in how the bracelets of lilac glow were twinkling, preparing a new Wood wall to counteract an upcoming frontal lightning attack in the form of a rapid stream discharged to them and rolling on the ground.

"No, I am afraid that I can't. Only the caster of the Jutsu can release those chakra restrainers, in your case Uchiha Sasuke himself."

"I am a _Wind_ chakra releaser whose nature is strong against Lightning, you have to help me defeat this men!" Sakura tried to appeal to this man and plead with him to help her but the man simply couldn't do that; Yamato recognized the Jutsu and it was a technique that Sasuke has picked up from Orochimaru when they used to be some sort of twisted allies and it only resonated with his chakra and no one else`s.

The taller man took a moment to glance at the staggering Priestess behind his shoulder and he had to admit that something about her... Yamato had no idea that the Priestess was a kunoichi although Orochimaru, the man who made him the ninja that he is today, had an idea about her existence and the myth behind, because he was looking for the Priestess himself for her power and the secret she guarded, albeit he had absolutely no idea about what exactly was she protecting but it was something that went behind even before shinobi have been born and had an immense power –it being the way Sasuke has heard about the Priestess of Tea, but he was quite skeptical at first about her existence because Orochimaru was the type to always dig for fairytales.

Even though he clearly knew that the Priestess of Tea will definitely protect her village and her wind nature will be more than a bless now, he shook his head at her as he tightened his hands that were curled into a ball in order to raise another layer of wood in front of the lightning discharge, continuing to lose the battle with a stronger technique.

"I can`t help you, I am sor–" His apology has been injected by a sudden telepathic missive coming from his clone who transmitted to them that he had contact.

The clone was supervising what was happening on the main battlefield, currently keeping an eye on the Gates where Sasuke and Naruto were displaying fine mastery of their ninja arts, noticing that Kumogakure sent strong shinobi to assault the Leaf _. "We need a shinobi with a Wind chakra nature in the downtown now."_

When Shikamaru`s voice injected into the conversation speaking at the same time as his clone, Yamato realized that the Nara genius interrupted the telepathic contact on purpose probably to formulate a plan and think things over calmly analyzing the situation on the battlefield and the condition of the Village.

" _We don't have enough manpower to lead the Villagers to a safer place and send reinforcements. We are being heavily outnumbered by the enemy."_

But what the possessor of the First Hokage`s almighty Jutsu also knew for sure was that being outnumber was never a problem for his men, for either Sasuke or Naruto alone were enough to bring an entire Village down without any assistance if their desires were such or if they set their mind into it and unleash their strongest techniques, so this is the reason why Shikamaru only briefed him about the current situation and didn't sound concerned in the bit, nor did he immediately come up with a plan to counterattack; they were being outnumbered yes, but a clever plan like the one they concocted to take down the ruler of the Leaf first time when they attacked wasn't necessarily needed now.

Plus, the Nara genius was always in control as he was composedly studying and evaluating the situation enfolding into the Village, probably letting his inventive mind to come up with an eventual strategy. Their first priority was not to let the Kumo shinobi do anymore damage and protect the innocent people.

Because as soon as every single person in the Leaf would reside within the depths of the Hokage mountain, then they could easily unleash their strongest destructive technique and wipe the floor with the lightning shinobi.

* * *

A vein bulked into Shikamaru`s temple as he was trying to be as fluent and compelling through the mental jutsu that was already wavering and becoming harder and harder to maintain steady and strong since Ino didn't poses immense pools of chakra, because Neji Hyūga found himself bouncing to the bars of his cell, shouting to the ex–Leaf shinobi. "You have to release us immediately and fight them otherwise we will all die!"

Well, one could say that they were pretty much alive and no one has barged into the Hokage Tower yet so this surmised that they weren't in any immediate danger; Ino knew it as well because she could clearly see that although the Kumo shinobi were larger in number and seemingly thirstier to conquer the Village, their opponents were definitely calmer, more resourceful and skilled, cleverer and more composed and not to mention… _darker._

A shiver coursed along her spine the moment she assessed the status of their strongest shinobi and although Naruto Uzumaki was having an enthusiasm that was uncanny and buoyant, putting a lot of heart into trying to cease away the Kumo shinobi with techniques that were unseen in the Leaf or anywhere for the matter, his raven haired partner was a whole other story; this Uchiha Sasuke`s aura was entirely befogging her Jutsu, interfering with her telepathy not enough to completely neutralize it because her Jutsu was very strong, but enough to let her have a taste of the nebula that veiled his entire form and his _darkness_ was something that literarily submerged her and choked her.

He was so… she didn't even have a name to describe his atmosphere, because never in her life has Yamanaka sensed something analogous.

His attacks were calculated, composed, he wasn't charging in vain, but when he did he was lethal and merciless, cutting through his enemies with cold blood and bottomless eyes; eyes that swallowed the light and the lightning itself. HE was so very standoffish, aloof and _cold._

"What a drag..." Shikamaru mumbled as he kept on focusing on scurrying the Village through Ino`s Jutsu and assess the situation, frowning slightly as he caught the sight of something rather queer somewhere near the Ninja Academy.

Well this man was right but... he was only entitled to have an opinion and not an opportunity which didn't matter in the bit for he was still a prisoner and the Nara prodigy had complete faith in his comrades.

"Juugo, can you lend her some of your chakra?" He didn't even need to peep to the sizzling blonde kunoichi to realize that she was running extremely low on chakra and she was on the verge of fainting from exhaustion into his arms, albeit he silently praised her determination and how she fought to keep the flow of her chakra steady so as not to alter his mind –realizing that she was committed to the Village and didn't attempt to take on him who was an enemy.

And Shikamaru _always_ praised someone with such tact and common sense.

Juugo nodded once to his friend and joined the kneeing pair, gently tapping Ino`s shoulder surging a small dosage of chakra through her and in response, immediately her Jutsu got stronger again and this time Shikamaru took his time to contact the leader himself.

" _Sasuke_ ," Said male tensed for a nanosecond as he was busy taking on five Kumo shinobi who were using a pretty interesting change in chakra nature for a strong canon blast, giving up the absurdity of trying to take him down one by one since he managed to injure every single one with his electrically charged katana and the Fire Release, not wanting to overuse the Mangekyou Sharingan for something so… trivia.

The first time when his shoulders stiffened and something churned through his mind that felt like having a shut down and his senses spiked for only a moment, was when he sensed that the Jutsu cast on the Priestess to restrain her chakra, waver for a bit and the explanation was simple; she was either trying to summon her own chakra and probably trying to run away and escape from his grasp, or it was because he was overusing his own chakra into the battle.

He couldn't have foreseen it that she was using a combination of his two hunches, namely she was using _his_ Jutsu to fight the enemy and _save_ herself and the villagers, but he clearly felt the resonance between them, being more intimate connected through that technique to the Priestess that she would believe.

And those Kumo shinobi… Shikamaru was right, they were indeed large in number signalizing that the Raikage didn't underestimate his enemy, but luckily enough he was also having a lightning chakra nature which could block and dwarf them and his blonde friend idiot who seemingly had a lot of fun crushing his opponents with flashing moves, was having a Wind chakra nature, so he had a moment to focus on what Shikamaru was conveying to him always listening to the genius and his brilliant strategic thinking _._

 _"We are being outnumbered and it takes too much for all the civilains to be evacuated. Karin has already managed to take the genins and kids to a safer place and also most of the villagers have been taken to the safety but I am afraid that the others refuse to cooperate with us. We need a bigger jutsu to take them all down."_

Even though Shikamaru couldn't see him, Sasuke nodded once as he mentally agreed to his comrade; problem was, he didn't want to risk and destroy the walls that bordered the Village and stood between it and the lush forest and leave it exposed.

"Dobe," He addressed the cerulean eyed Uzumaki who was using his _Ōdama Rasengan_ on his Clones that were positioned strategically so as not to let the enemy sink further into the Village, overusing his chakra, but this was never a problem.

Sasuke knew that Naruto was taking Shikamaru`s advice into account because this is the reason why he wasn't using his infamous _Wind Release: Rasenshuriken_ which was exactly what they needed to wipe away those fuckers from the surface of the earth – a lethal strong Jutsu enhanced with the chakra that they were weak to, namely the Wind chakra. "I need to go to the downtown and assist Yamato. Can you handle the things here?"

"No problem, dattebayou!" He was bluffing and Sasuke knew that his technique was using a lot of chakra; way more than all the others, including Sasuke.

The Uchiha nodded once to him as he diverted an aerial attack that came from a combined technique resembling some sort of a bird and trying to land a decent hit through his guard but Sasuke kept on eluding them and block their futile attempts with his own chakra and he was far more skilled in his change in the chakra nature.

Glancing to his left side where a vicious curse blasted through his eardrums of a male who was having serious problems in fighting a jutsu that he was weak against, Sasuke barked at the Water shinobi. "Suigetsu!"

The youngest of the Hozuki brothers didn't even peel his amethyst orbs from the enemy that was giving him Hell and was not allowing him to properly liquefy his body so as to evade his attack , but Sasuke knew that Suigetsu was more attentive than people gave him credit for. "Can you assist Naruto?"

"Well what do you think?" He threw the Uchiha a sarcastic remark as if Sasuke wasn't aware of his weakness, but also Suigetsu had an uncanny sensitive string into his body and albeit it was hidden far deep under the layers of scornful and sadistic tendencies, it manifested when his comrades were in need of help, but it didn't make him be less foul mouthed and rude.

"this bastards are using Raiton, the element that I am weak against so judge it for yourself with that pretty head of yours." Meanwhile, the Kumo shinobi was busy slicing the _Kubikiribōchō_ in half while Suigetsu looked like ready to turn into plastic rather than water.

 _Damn it!_

Assessing the situation before him and taking Shikamaru`s advice and updates into consideration, Sasuke pondered his options for a bit also mentally noticing that Yamato`s clone was somewhere near albeit his jutsu was also weak against the Lightning Release, so he addressed the blonde Uzumaki once again. "Naruto, if they take the upper hand, blow them out with your strongest Wind release."

He instructed as Shikamaru, who was supervising him through Yamanaka`s technique and Naruto who also knew about their plan not to damage the Village tensed for a bit upon hearing Sasuke`s stern command. "I am going."

Not even giving them the chance to argue, Sasuke`s fingers laced into the familiar hand sign of the summoning technique and immediately a large hawk was fluttering his impressive ample wings with powerful strokes right above his head as Sasuke leaped on the bird, successfully avoiding a stream of a powerful surge of lightning when a black panther made of ink enveloped the Kumo shinobi and stopped him from waiving hand signs, as Sai popped out of nowhere.

"Ninpō: _Chōjū Giga_!" Another panther similar to the first one leaped from the scroll that unfolded from his ninja tools as Sai replaced Sasuke in fighting those Kumo Shinobi, assisting Suigetsu.

Sasuke spared him no other glance as he flied away from the Front Gates knowing that Naruto, Sai and Suigetsu will be successful, following Shikamaru`s instructions and deductions about the condition of the village and the Kumo shinobi who managed to scatter along the streets and ravaging everything in their way.

He knew that what they needed was either a barrier or a powerful jutsu to counterattack and he and Naruto had such a combination that will successfully put an end to this nonsensical fighting, though he had to figure out a way to let their technique come undone without causing any more damage.

But he almost froze in shock –something that was as stupid and uncharacteristic as it was a foreign concept for Sasuke, when he stumbled across a certain scene unfolding right under him.

He wasted no more seconds when he jumped off the hawk and joined the _party._

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* * *

If only she wasn't so restrained, so unproductive and ineffectual to do something that mattered and contribute actively to the fight, but she had no other options, for without her chakra which was strong against the lightning release, Sakura could do absolutely nothing to stop those Shinobi anymore; plus this Yamato man who was using an impressive unique Jutsu was also impotent and his attempts to make a difference into the fight were feeble and gutless, since he was weak against their technique.

All that she had was a sharp kunai and no other options, except for her intelligence but this won't help her too much in the context since all the villagers were refusing to leave the scene so she had to focus on both things at the same time, namely protect the people that she held dearly and fight the enemy.

Something dangling from Yamato`s belt gleamed and mirrored into the depths of her jade orbs and suddenly something flickered into her chest –a new ray of hope. It was a slim katana sword with a distinctive honed edgy tip and a shape that seemed very fit for conducting chakra through it. _Yes!_

"I think I am going to be in need of this, so I am borrowing it if you don't mind." She swiftly threw her right hand to his back as Yamato didn't even had the chance to protest or assess what she was about to do, because she was fluid like a rippling shadow and softer than the breeze of a gentle wind, but at the same time flexible and limber.

"Hey, wait–"

As Yamato was busy eluding another strong attack summoning a shield of wood to envelop himself with as the male pierced it with his lighting infused swords, Sakura dashed forward when his comrade wanted to provide backup and add to the strength of their technique that was stronger when performed in sync and pierced the ground with the sword to take the attack full face and her assumption has been correct – the sword was also good electric conductor. _Yes!_

Sasuke`s jutsu has once again made the enemy`s one ricochet and somehow it was both attracted to her form and being diverted from harming her and it resulted in being discharged into the sword. "What the fuck, how the heck do you do this, _woman_?!" He cursed out loud as Sakura gave him no second of thinking.

In the moment she felt all his jutsu dissipate and discharge into he ground, she hauled the sword from the ground and swung it into the air skillfully rolling it into her hand like it weighed nothing and aligned it with her shoulder as she dropped into a combat stance that was unfamiliar to the Kumo shinobi because it was more resembling Kung Fu and ancient martial arts and this way, she was swimming on familiar waters.

Sakura was brisk and fluent in balancing on her dominant front leg as she measured the distance perfectly so as to upswing the speed of her impetus when she swiveled the sword and kept it parallel to the ground, bypassing the Kumo shinobi as he remained suspended in his daze with both swords thrust forward, missing the blow and not having time to swirl around and block her blow.

The shrewd Priestess fudged a blow to his neck which was obvious as she came on his side and being on the same level with his jugular, but she only gave him a ghost of a smile when she pivoted on her left leg and lowered her stance so as to amplify the rotation and circumnavigated his dazed form as she seemed to be made of nature`s elements, making his senses reel in confusion and hiding behind the sun rays, stealing from the softness of the wind, and whirled the sword so as to slice through the skin of his side, right above his liver and immediately blood started to spray from the deep injury and this time, she was proficient in landing a blow but this was also because he didn't expect her to fight like this.

"AHHH! You filthy bitch you will pay for this stunt!" Damn they were persistent and hard to kill, Sakura mentally noticed as she immediately shrieked back from him while the Kumo shinobi pressed his sword on the ground and discharged a sudden wave of lightning to her, but Sakura used the same trick as before to press her own sword into the ground and use it as a foothold.

She blitzed him with her speed and flexibility but her equilibrium was out of the charts; she didn't waver for one bit even though she was unable to use any chakra and her lithe motions betrayed elegance and hard training but also natural skill.

She was suave and gentle like a white swan which floated upon the air, seemingly having no touch to the gravity; she was rippling on the wings of the wind like the petal of a rose.

Then right before the injured shinobi run out of chakra completely, Sakura pressed her palm on the edge of the blade and let the restraining Jutsu resound with the enemy`s and this time it diverted the attack right through the caster who was completely chakra depleted and unable to stop the brief electrocution.

Sakura dashed to him in a heartbeat approaching his form that was dropped on his knee and clasping her fingers around her knuckles, she regulated her breaths so as to gain more force and flexibility and delivered a powerful punch right into his jaw as the bone cracked at the force of the impact, successfully sending him flying backwards, ricocheting at the impact and staining her knuckles with the blood that percolating from his split lip.

Upon seeing the small performance of the famous Priestess of Tea who was not even capable of molding chakra since she was restrained, Yamato smiled softly at the impressive gorgeous pink haired woman; it gave him the chance to form a prison around the three Kumo shinobi who were pretty much impaled save for the last for them who managed to injure his shoulder with an attack that broke past his wood shelter.

A new command came from their top strategist right through Yamanaka`s telepathic jutsu. Shikamaru ordered everyone to lure the enemy somewhere at the eastern wing of the village that has already been entirely evacuated, and this was exactly what they were diligently doing on the battlefield; Naruto and his comrades looked like were fighting exhaustion and retreating, while in reality they were all holding back without delivering any lethal blow and the Kumo shinobi followed suit, not understanding the purpose of their plan, blindly chasing them.

"Oh no…" Both Sakura and Yamato looked upwards where five shadows were blinding the sun that was glowing maroon, landing around them in a semi-circle and surrounded the Wooden release shinobi and the beautiful Priestess; they were all Kumo shinobi who came to back their fallen comrades up and now they were facing six adversaries who were all strong and using Lightning release.

 _This is very bad,_ Sakura mentally concluded. They would have probably managed to take the last remaining Lightning shinobi down by using a combined attack even though Yamato was weak against his chakra nature, but there was absolutely no smart small trick that they could use to take on so many shinobi.

This was impossible, they will both be taken down if the comrade of Uchiha wasn't very skilled in making a successfully escape and take them both and the villagers out to a safer place. They had to escape from there, because there was no chance of surviving that clash.

"We need to retract for now," Swiftly and without blinking, Yamato waved some sighs at top speed entwining his fingers in the peculiar hand sign of his Jutsu, addressing the Priestess who shuffled somewhere behind him so as to stand between the villagers and the enemy and she listened to what he had to say, while keeping an eye on the enemy, desperately trying to come up with a strategy that could work.

That scene was a mordancy in terms of having to cooperate with the enemy to defeat another enemy, by having a common goal in mind namely protect the innocent people who are alien to the shinobi`s conflicts and ambitions, realizing that life was more than harmony and symphonies. It was satiric and sarcastic, bitter and remorseful.

Yamato didn't have any problem in cooperating with Sasuke`s prisoner understanding that if the ebony haired Uchiha was allowing her to wander freely through the village, then he might have a purpose –one that has been flourishingly because now Sakura has been reduced to a traitor among her peers, decaying from her pedestal as a spiritual symbol, to someone who was making allies from the enemies but then again… this approach was the real arch and the bridge to bring peace into the world.

"and wait for help from my comrades." She nodded once to him in understanding while Yamato made a giant tree swirl in a spiral from the ground as his roots pierced the pavement and coming between them to twine around the Kumo shinobi, but a powerful electric spin discharged from the Jutsu of one of them has hit the trunk full force and took him down in three powerful blows as it shattered and nearly injured Sakura and Yamato who both flied backwards, getting farther from the peasants who scurried behind the Academy`s building, hiding and following the horrifying spectacle.

"Priestess, watch out–" Yamato gritted his teeth as one of the Kumo shinobi leashed to Sakura whirling a strange shaped sword in the air, attacking her, but when he attempted to create another cocoon of wood around their forms and protect them both, a powerful electric discharge neutralized his Jutsu and made the wood crack and pop before it enveloped them both. "Shimatta!"

Emerald orbs filled with both determination and consternation as they mirrored the gleam of the Kumo Shinobi`s sword which was thicker and longer than her own being swung to her as she flexed her arms and lifted her own sword up to block the attack, sidestepping so as not to take the hit full force and give her a moment to swirl on her heel and catch his shoulder or the side of his neck, while his body will naturally slide forward and pass her by.

But she failed to notice that his attack was a deceiving one and instead of being used to impale, it was just a conductor for next thing she knew, Sakura has been propelled up in the air by an electric stream and she landed ungracefully on her shoulder, as dust aroused around her form in a pile of sand.

"Auch!"

Quickly she tried to pull herself in a vertical position, tapping her surroundings for the sword that slide from her hands and fell some steps behind her with a clang, bur she was too late because the Kumo shinobi came charging right to her with his sword aiming right at her chest and Yamato was busy facing four opponents who tried to attack him.

She couldn't see the rest of the Kumo shinobi, but a shriek coming from the peasants helped her locate their position –they went after the villagers. "No!"

Meanwhile, Yamato was running out of chakra since he has been fighting alongside Sasuke and Naruto until he was instructed to scout the Village and provide assistance where needed, so naturally he failed to create a solid shield between him and his attackers, so he took a full lightning blow that sent him whirling backwards somewhere near the swing that was rocking back and fort in a languid manner in an eerie way, seemingly unperturbed by all the pandemonium and bustle around, while electricity stopping his Jutsu even before he tried to summon the trunk of a tree and use the roots to abduct and stop his enemies.

The dashing form of her attacker reflected in those widened viridian-aureate orbs as Sakura tried to roll over her shoulder and elude the frontal attack, but she was _slower_ than the speed of lightning.

The tip of a sword was pointed to her heart and the roaring Kumo shinobi thrust it forward, enhancing it with his chakra that circulated around the fine honed gleaming blade. "Ah!"

Two lethal blows were aimed at Sakura and Yamato at the same time and judging by the short cries that came from their mouths, they were both…

…unsuccessful.

Because next thing they knew, both Sakura and Yamato found themselves being enveloped in a bright _purple_ veil that resembled a shield in the same shade as the Jutsu that kept the Priestess` chakra restrained, giving off the impression that it was made of burning black and purple flames, and two gargantuan hands clasped around the attackers, successfully saving her and Yamato from the Kumo Shinobi and one single word has echoed through the sudden menacing vapid silence that fell across the small battlefield, responding to their unvoiced question.

"Susanoo!"

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* * *

A/N: Ok, I tried my best to hurry this update and keep the chapter as short as possible since this is my intention with this story. I hope that this wasn't a boring description of a fight and that Sakura didn't seem week; if she came out as useless and weak, know that this was not my intention. As my faithful readers know, I am not self-assured about my depiction of a battle, is something that I have always deemed as a vulnerable spot in my writing skills, since I am more oriented to descriptions of romantic scenes and description of feelings rather than action; trust me I am struggling with this in my upcoming updates on 'Everything in my life' – for the ones who read that story, you guys know what I mean.

To answer the question, no, Ino made sure that no one will find out about her locating Kakashi and Anko, although Shikamaru has a hunch about them. The rest of them I cannot answer I am sorry **sakuraXxXShisui** but I do not want to spoil the story for you, ok? But but but… know that I am having my fair share of dirty mind, especially when it comes to my favorite pair and I will definitely have some steamy moments between them, no worries.

I know that this chapter was merely Yamato and Sakura fighting the Kumo shinobi while you were definitely expecting –based on your feedback– a Sasuke and Sakura scene and the meeting between her and Karin but I promise you guys that the next chapter is going to have both; plus I am preparing an entire Sasuke and Sakura moment solely in the next two or three chapters to make it up to you guys.

I am sorry for not having time to properly respond to you all guys like you deserve, but know that I read every single review and thank you guys – **Guest, itsbritneybitch, Guest, Urbiggestfan, lovesasusakuforever , Analelle, Guest , mannuj, NinjaPenguinLover , C.S, Maram, sakuraXxXShisui, Guest , chichivivas,ILoveSxS, anime1angel, hifi, guest, jen1490 , Guest** – for being so consistent and eloquent in your reviews. And thank you guys for sending me words of encouragement, it helped a lot, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

To all the readers and followers of this story, thank you and hope you have enjoyed this chapter as well.

Till next time, take care of you guys and thanks for everything! You are the best!


	7. In Crepuscule

**::CHAPTER VII – In Crepuscule::**

* * *

Sakura has encountered many awe-inspiring and splendid shinobi in her life and even though her role was more spiritually oriented than actual fighting and leading a true shinobi life, she has received her training from the legendary Sannin Senju Tsunade, but this was something that transcended any imagination of sorts.

Her eye was not fast enough to catch whatever has just transpired on the mini battlefield but in an instant, she found herself enveloped in a lilac drape that resembled purple fires in the sky or crashing meteorites, and the visual of the ominous Jutsu had an impact on any viewer who was not accustomed to see this particular eye technique of the indomitable Mangekyou Sharingan, as Sasuke was not someone to spam this chakra consuming skill uselessly, but this time… _something_ made his eye react even before his mind had the chance to ponder over the possibility of uselessly overdoing it, simply because it wasn't like he was worried for Yamato's well-being, albeit he was surprisingly quite attached to his comrades and he rescued them when in a pinch, but he found himself heading right to where the Priestess has been surrounded and almost impaled by the enemy, and this was unacceptable for him.

He was puzzled by her unforeseen presence on the battlefield and seemingly entangled into a fracas with the Lightning Shinobi, but then again he didn't delude himself into thinking that this overly curious little white dove will simply stay into her golden cage when the door was wide open, so naturally she will roam freely in his absence, but seeing her so venomous and avid in defending her village and the innocent people, even going as far as to relinquish in the shame of being affiliated to her enemy to cease away a more imminent threat, did something flicker into the vault of his chest and _almost_ resonating with his own _ontology._

So this is the reason why Sasuke felt a sudden voltage surging through him in resonance to her Jutsu –because Sakura was trying to summon her _own_ chakra that was restrained by his, so naturally the technique that he used on her, a _Kinjutsu_ which he stole from Orochimaru, acted like a lock on her, but it was more than simply draining her of energy; Sasuke didn't plan to flaunt this technique with the Priestess, but the brisk conjecture has made it so as he was _forced_ to use it as a clever plan to somehow restrain her in the forest, and it was a first performance for him as well to experiment this technique on someone.

Whatever she was feeling or when she was in danger, her _heart_ and _shaken feelings_ broke through the Jutsu and beguiled his own, pleading with him to listen to two interconnected souls belonging to the same shattered spirit which begged to be reunited as one single heartbeat.

 _Something_ he didn't have a name for has flickered into this chest when Sasuke`s bleeding blood orbs, which stole the radiance of the glowing sunset swelling every ray of light downcast on the melee that was taking place symbolically in front of the Ninja Academy –a  pathway meant to be a liaison to **peace** and **cooperation** between the shinobi of every clan, clearly standing as a symbol of rebirth of hope for the new generation, was now stained by those brainwashed Kumo gorillas who dared to attack the Priestess and the civilians.

A force that overwhelmed his own will power mentally percolating through every layer of his conscience and grazing to the surface made him speed up to the scene and have an unbeatable momentum when he was almost one breath away from _not_ avoiding her to be hurt, but he didn't hesitate, not for a single moment.

Sheer mania and choler erupted through every pore of his body and reflected into the filigree fractals of his Mangekyo Sharingan when the mere figment of someone _hurting_ the Priestess churned into Sasuke`s Sharingan as a horrifying foreshadowing of reading their movements and he simply had to _protect_ her no matter what, and this is the reason why logic and strategy paled in front of this frenetic _impulse_ to save someone… _important._

 _Which she clearly is **not**._

"Wha–" Alarmed green garnet orbs flew above her head as a natural instinct to scout for the source of darkness which clouded the sun abruptly, thinking that it was most likely Yamato`s Jutsu coming to her rescue on the very last time, but she had the stupefying flabbergasted surprise to realize that it was _not_ a Wooden Release technique, but a more sinister one that she hasn't seen before, but it looked menacing and torn like a bloodcurdling line from the _Devil`s_ favorite novel. "Y–You!"

Sakura found herself staring at the lissome straight back of Uchiha Sasuke, who stood proud as the statuesque representation of a Roman Emperor, not even sparing her a single glimmer as he was absolutely pulverizing his strong enemies right before her gasping jadeite orbs, casually and seemingly without breaking a single sweat and having a frightening casualness and easiness in crushing such opponents, like he was having a friendly gathering playing Darts instead of a bloody battle and, in fact, everything about this ebony haired male whose silky cashmere hair fluttered arrogantly yet incredibly alluring into the zephyr of wind, seemed to be flouting and repudiating every single law and rule, even the ones of a Ninja _showdown_ _._

Sakura simply stood petrified in place, still entrapped into a fighting defensive stance with her guard raised in the form of a hand bent on her eye level and the legs parted and her knees bent slightly so as to either dash forward or step aside to eschew from a lethal blow and completely unable to peel her stunned emerald eyes off _this_ man.

He was affronting every single rule that she knew about shinobi with every mannerism or techniques he used, because she simply couldn't begin to comprehend just _what_ type of Jutsu was that he was using, but she knew for a fact that it was exuding the most villainous and sinister aura that she has ever seen in anyone, making the Kumo shinobi who had their own fair share of notorious bloodthirsty and mischievousness look like cherubs falling from Paradise, paling in comparison to how implacable icy and stormy this Uchiha was.

Sakura had this inkling that his Jutsu not only stunned and shocked the viewer by his abnormal manifestation and the raw strength or versatility as it was clearly used as either a shield or an attack weapon, but for the sole fact that it seemed to be a projection of the soul on the outside, oozing from the depths of his chest`s nest and wrapping around in the form of a demonic spirit.

A distorted mirror of Sasuke`s darkness took the form of a gargantuan skeleton with bright golden holes in place of its eyes but that radiance was calescent and nefarious as the eternal flames in Hell and it clothed everything around it in this dark lavender effulgence and for a moment, the Priestess felt reminiscent to walking through a gothic cemetery, because of the unmistakable clatter of the bones entwined with the bloodcurdling feeling of being chased by the Grim Reaper without a chance to escape to the light.

And his _form_ … the way he was capable of controlling all that manifestation of _pure_ darkness in all the plenitude of the term like it was a candle in his capable hands, without blinking or moving a single digit –he kept his muscular arms crossed over his broad chest all the while taking on the Kumo shinobi casually with much ease, clasped into Sakura's chest like a tiger`s claw lacerating through her skin and making it bleed.

This Uchiha with his uncanny lone incredibly icicle beauty was capable of controlling the realm of demons like the very King himself and for one moment, during one single prolonged glimmer of her widened eyes, time stood suspended in the dusty particles of sand that fluttered in mini tornados around the place and she forgot how to breathe.

Never as in _never_ in her life has Sakura tasted the fragrance of _Death_ itself like in this very moment and it wasn't because her life was endangered since he clearly saved her from the enemy, but because she was capable of peeking into his _soul_ like the splendid Priestess with a sensitive heart that she was and assisted by the perception to the spirit, Sakura felt drained of energy and suddenly her vital force has been replaced with a nebulous vacuum, barely preventing herself not to drop down on her jittery knees and lose her mind.

 _What is this Jutsu?_ Sasuke hasn't waived any single hand sign and yet she followed in horror how his shadow worked as a brick wall between him and the sun that was bleeding as it sunk into the mountains at sunset, spilling maroon and tangerine rays around his form and he looked like entrapped in another time, shadowed by the contrast of light.

The incredible yet fearsome technique only needed one minute at most to wipe the floor with the enemy as the two gigantic skeleton hands that were glowing in the same way as her chakra restraining Jutsu –which by the way started to glow brighter than before and feel warm around her wrists clearly reacting to the closeness of the owner, in some sort of unraveled _liaison_ _._ And it was incomprehensible as in how could his chakra materialize in the form of a mammoth skeleton – the personification of restless death and the figment of all the nightmares, and at the same, time feel so warm on _her_ skin?

Sasuke was as mystifying as the deceiving moonlight which would never be able to provide any warmth, inducing the helpless wanderer into the realm of dreams and magic nursing him in traipsing the veil between fantasy and reality, thus he was so hard to read, but at the same time, Sakura learned that this Jutsu that he has cast on her was helping her connect to the Uchiha himself and feel the materialization of his heart`s most rapacious demons, but at the same time… it allowed her to glimpse into his heart which qualified as a _privilege_ since he was a walking statue giving nothing away but the explicit gorgeous features and an abyss of a frozen ocean.

All the Kumo shinobi, from the first to the last one, have been crushed in a sea of hollering in agony souls, perishing under the inexorable flames that the skeleton was spewing –black flames which resembled melting coals, from the humongous palms of his hands. Their violent deaths were so sudden and so implacable that their screams of agony froze midway on their faces, while Sasuke gave them no chance to shriek away, and for the fact that they have touched the Priestess who was _his_ prisoner without _his_ consent, something into his mind boiled to the point where his entire body felt charged by voltages and sizzled hotly like a furnace in pure hatred and vexation for this loathsome Kumo shinobi, and the need to _destroy_ them and turn them to ashes grew feral.

Sasuke could literarily feel the apprehension, the confusion, the petrifying dread and the worry sewed into an intricate net, oozing from the Priestess`s entire atmosphere as she stood three steps away from him and not moving, but those eyes boring into his nape and comprising everything that welled into her heart onto his skin, were missives knew by him –she was _scared_ to breath, to blink, to exist, to utter a single word because of him and his eclipse demeanor, thus he felt confused about his own feelings.

Part of him was glad that she was finally taking a glimpse of how ruthless and cold he really was and even if he wasn't being a coward who bullied women, it didn't mean that he will permit her to transgress borders that she _shouldn't_ and nor should she entertain the idea of doing so, Priestess or not –he didn't need his prisoner to preach him, for his soul was already beyond _redemption_ or salvation.

So the Uchiha freed a hard breathe through his lips in an exasperated sigh, fine-combing a hand through his lavish ebony tendrils that were as rebel as his moves, in pure exasperation, half turning his masculine profile to the emerald eyed runaway Priestess, charcoal orbs pinning her to the ground and stealing every breath away, as they were fixed on her jadeite widened ones and she looked right back into his bottomless orbs.

"Had someone told me that I will end up SAVING you one day, I would have laughed in his face and told him that he was crack nuts." He couldn't believe that he has saved his own _prisoner_ from an enemy who found it to be a _'genius'_ strategy to conquer a Village that has already been transgressed by someone else.

There must be something wrong with his head or his karma to be doing something so unreasonable and lacking any manifestation of common logic but then again, Sasuke had his own fair shares of moments of insanity which he won't deny.

"B-But why have you don- AH!" One of the hands of the skeleton spanned to her approaching a startled Sakura ominously, but she couldn't avoid it when they cupped her form and hoisted her up from the ground, but this time they weren't harmful or devastating only frightening since the motion startled her and the sudden gravity defying motion made her feel queasy and dizzy, finding herself landing straight into Sasuke`s open _arms._

The innate reflex to cling of any lifesaver in order to prevent a fall drove Sakura to wrap both hands around his muscled neck, as he brought her flush into his chest with one hand curled around her shoulders in a tight bridal style embrace and the other coiled around the back of her knees, long legs dangling from his hands and losing the contact to the ground.

Her heart was trying to win the race of the pulse that was going haywire through her system, leaving Sakura completely breathless because oxygen refused to dissipate through her lungs and allow her to breathe for dear life, air getting hitched midway her throat and she let out a short startled cry.

It was in the moment when their gazes twined into an intense gaze has Sakura realized the source of this nefarious technique –it was not a Jutsu, but the manifestation of his _Doujutsu._ This was the other color of the Sharingan, a pattern that she knew it was as rare as it was almost legendary, since the Uchiha clan was pretty much extinct, namely the _Mangekyou_ Sharingan and of course, the Uchiha genes reached the paramount into their last heir`s beautiful sapphire orbs.

A spiral latticework in the form of a star fractal pattern swiveling hypnotically into the lavish blood red of his irises left her mouth agape and she found herself unable to look away from those eyes, understanding that this was the trick he used to defeat Hiruzen Sarutobi, the former Hokage, and this trivia let Sakura know that there were unimaginable resources of power running through Sasuke`s vessels, ones that he kept _concealed_ until the very moment when it was necessarily for him to reveal them to the world.

There was this _feeling_ which suddenly took the form of an unnamed emotion spanning through her chest when her digits that were entwined into his raven hair took a fist of the silky spikes that fell in naughty spikes along his long neck, while her inhales came in staccato rapid streams through her parted silent lips, because there, amidst a fine but sinister display of sheer power that was on a whole other level, Sasuke proved it that he could be so _natural_ in being both _devastating_ and _delicate_ at the same time, only his eyes were having a soul of their own and this Sharingan entombed all the powerful feelings of hatred and coldness of the Uchiha clan, manifesting at their apogee.

His eyes were conveying another message than his mimics –namely to stay away from him and not even dare to get closer. He spoke through his eyes, they were his best lawyer and his closest friend, the only _connection_ he had with his past and his family, entombing the Uchiha lineage. His birth gift running avidly unhindered through his veins shone brightly before her, spellbinding her and pinning her to a parallel dimension.

"Hn. You are MY prisoner and not THEIRS." His inflection, that sensual interaction of black velvet, lush cognac and leather reverberated through the baritone of his vocal chords in a tremble so cold, and yet so incredibly low and husky and the shivers coursing along Sakura`s spine made her confused about their source, because whether she felt like this as disappointment because of his motive to rescue her or because of the incredible _intimate_ possession that he was manifesting through every syllable that his alto key tunes were pressing so clearly and resolutely, Sakura didn't know.

"I hate it when someone touches something that belongs to ME." She should have been offended by how he referred to her as an _object_ , a tool for his desires to do as he pleased, but her heart reacted in a funny way refusing to make an armistice to her mind and embrace logic, and the _blush_ imbuing her cheeks with rosy hue was something that she could prevent when his embrace around her form tightened ever so softly seemingly just to make his point clearer.

If Uchiha was surprised to see her react in such a funny way as her spitfire angelic duality sneaked past his guard since Sasuke had clear stereotypes about people which were clearly defined into his mind, then he was good to hide it when Sakura pressed her lush lips in a comical seemingly angry pout and mumbled under her breath as she held his gaze with confidence, unable to askew from _those_ eyes, and completely oblivious to what was happening around them, as the enemies diffused into a secondary landscape. "If you would have freed _my_ powers then I could have defended _myself_ without needing your help!"

Sasuke said absolutely nothing as she almost screamed into his face in that suave violin voice of hers which made it quite difficult to picture her screaming angrily at him, as long as he simply let their forms travel along the high column of the skeleton`s spine, going down.

Sakura flinched quite uncomfortably and fluttered her legs wobbling into his arms albeit tightening her hold around his neck, realizing that they were descending like a terrifying Carousel ride, and as soon as they landed safely on the ground, Sasuke ungraciously dropped the Priestess on her butt, feeling absolutely exasperated by this woman and all the imbroglio that she brought along her zephyr missives in terms of feelings and convoluted situations. "Hey!"

"You are _so_ annoying." Sasuke couldn't help himself but shot sternly to her and those words were so sincere, coming straight from his heart because no matter what she did, the Priestess was only managing to get him fly off the handle, riled up and… intrigued.

She was so very different from any other person that he has encountered and, not to mention that she was the most atypical woman out of all the others sprinkled around him and mostly fawning over his standoffish attention.

He still couldn't believe that Sakura hasn't hesitated in fighting the enemy that Kumo sprinkled through their Village so unabashedly who were almost begging to be beaten up to a bloody pulp by him and his men even though she couldn't use her chakra, and she had no problem in allying with the enemy who had a common cause, simply to protect what she held dear- the _Village._

Where was this pure warrior spirit coming from, because this carcass which so fragile like a crystal doll in the hands of destiny, was clearly belonging to someone _breakable_ and a mere glimmer in her direction could shatter her like million twinkling stars turning into dust?

Those _eyes_ … the lucent in those glossy orbs that entrapped the eternal shimmering of emerald crystals were looking at him in an unabashed curiosity and a plea to _listen_ to her and take her for what she was –a Priestess hence let her in, but he definitely refused to. She was dangerous, more dangerous than any enemy because those eyes cut deeper than any weapon, since feelings had more _power_ than any inanimate tools.

As Sakura collected her dropped form from the hard dusty ground brushing her hand over her kimono neatly and carefully as if the piece of cloth which was molding around her sylph curves like a second skin, flawlessly like it was made for her exclusively and treating it like a precious possession, she threw Sasuke a frown which came out as both comically and intense –something that only _she_ could pull, trying to come up with a retort for his ungraceful behavior only... at the corner of her keen eye, Sakura has seen a Kumo shinobi bolting their way, approaching menacingly with what was probably his last drop of chakra, attempting to hit Sasuke`s _Susanoo_ shield and she panicked. "Hey, watch out to that-"

The lone gesture that made its way to Sasuke`s form was the ghost of a sinister smirk colliding with his thin lips as the Uchiha didn't even turn around to acknowledge whatever weakling was begging to die by his hand, only his Sharingan seemed to be bursting like a restless volcano erupting from the pits of his _heart_ and a fine line of clear blood gleamed from the corner of his orbs, while a second steadier shield enveloped the skeleton at once, making it bigger and even more menacing as it took the form of an ancient ghost of a Chinese warrior ready to crush his opponents, and the fact that his hatred and darkness had a _face_ shocked Sakura till depths.

 _Ominous_ reached its paramount when Sasuke used his unparalleled technique to shoot a huge _arrow_ bursting in the same peculiar purple flames, unleashing it to the last Kumo shinobi and the resonance, the pungent stench of rotten flesh mixed with the sound of his screams in pure horror and it made it seem like Hell has taken over the earth, and all the demons were entrapped into a horrendous dance of a sadistic dementia and it was bloodcurdling and daunting to witness.

Every tear that the disheartening vista might have conjured froze like an icicle under her eyelashes. Soon enough, there was no other sound shattering the sinister silence around, except for the flickering purple flames of his Jutsu consummating the Kumo shinobi and burning them into ashes until there was nothing left from their carcasses.

Sakura, as well as the other villagers could only watch in total revulsion as Uchiha Sasuke was giving them a glimpse of what he was capable if, unaware of the fact that it wasn't his penchant for gasconading about the skills he had in front of them, but rather that he felt the sudden impulse to protect the Priestess for a reason that he himself couldn't phantom, but quickly brushed away the unnecessarily feelings, not digging much into the matter.

That sinister and ominous resonance, his purple chakra, the coldness, the cruel way to burn that person alive... tears welled up her eyes the moment when that chilling atmosphere erupted into an electrifying silence with a tinge of so much malice and nebula, that it sent cold shivers along the spine in a paralyzing way, and the Priestess found herself trembling in pure _fear_ for the first time in her life, but this was something that words couldn't comprise and it wasn't like she didn't feel grateful to him for saving her, but rather because she could feel her heart resonating to the ones of the peasants and freezing like the sense of time in her chest, slipping past her digits, and it was nerve wrecking.

Wordlessly and without making it too obvious that he was affecting her in such an unabashed manner, Sakura glanced at the ebony haired Uchiha, being presented his imposing back, feeling all shaky and apprehensive.

No matter what his intentions were and how unequivocally beautiful he was, Sasuke was so sinister in the aura, colder than a tuneless melody in a freezing December night and so wordlessly absorbed into the darkness, that it was etched on his very shadow.

Every delineation of his lissome form was made of shadows, there was only darkness around him, his thirst for blood was quelled by the annihilation of the enemies, he nourished from their _fear_ , the blood, the stain of his hands, he was so cold, _too_ cold, it was freezing the air and it was electrically and impossible to inhale normally; he was so sinister and portentous that it was almost not humanly possible for a human being -who has been granted the gift of _love_ by Kami-sama, to feel so vapid and nebulous, like there was no heart pounding into his chest, only darkness running through his vessels.

Whoever entered his consciousness even for a moment, Sasuke didn't even flinch or moved a single finger to acknowledge their presence, only staring impassively and totally detached with a smug satisfaction on his lone beautiful visage at how they all burned till core while they couldn't even touch him; his Jutsu was an unbreakable shield and its attacks, as well as its form, were _lethal._

 _He_ was lethal.

"Now," Oh my God his voice was a projection of those apocalyptic flames rippling out of his baritone chords similar to a bass guitar, yet at the same time he wasn't angry or vexed on the contrary, the sinister thing about him was exactly this incredible _calmness_ and composure which made it all the evilest, since he seemed to be in so much _control_ over everything and have an unparalleled confidence that could almost be topped by his arrogance. "you have a solid reason to be _afraid_ of me."

This message was forwarded to _her_ and her only when Sasuke half turned his sharp high profile to only acknowledge Sakura and no one else who he could depict at the corner of his bleeding eyes, and his orbs were glowing in that madness cadence that petrified the blood in her veins, being framed by the claret liquid leaking from them due to over exhaustion, but the _pain_ didn't seem to faze him the bit; what Sakura didn't know was the immense pain that was nested into every cell whenever he tried this chakra consuming technique, even though Sasuke was slowly but steadily mastering it and perfected it.

"This is what I am made of," There was no tinge of derisive mockeries into his words, he was dead serious and honest to her, while those luminous orbs bore into her emerald iridescent ones, taking in every single _emotion_ that was scintillating into those amazingly viridian and aureate sewed orbs; eyes that were looking back to him as in trying to find the flicker of a dainty light at the end of an endless dark tunnel and this almost had him smirk –she was looking _in vain_ for something that wasn't residing there. "and my heart," even his delicious voice that usually brushed over the tip of her tongue like caramel and chocolate, went impossibly low and dropping from a husky tenor to baritone that seemed to absorb the very light within her soul. "is entirely made of darkness."

 _Emptiness._ This is what she felt on her fingertips as the air around filled her nostrils and for a moment, those words and the resolution in his inflection as he said it made her _lose_ hope in him which was uncharacteristically for a Priestess who was the _last_ keeper of the faith in human kind, but he didn't offer any gate to his soul or mind, only walls –a maze of walls surrounding his feelings like a fortress.

She couldn't help herself when she saw the way he practically sprinkled those purple flames that seemed to be fading into a darker shade, stopping and crushing every enemy without any hope to escape it, and albeit this was seemingly a combined technique and not belonging to this humongous Jutsu, they never seemed to extinguish; it was like the very flames of HELL; this man brought hell among his enemies and the village, and something strange simmered into her chest in a form of a nimble constricting impulse and making her body recoil out of her own accord.

So the Priestess found her agile feet leap straight towards Sasuke who turned his back on her as he felt the sudden shift in the air, seeing that every smart retort fell prey to an engulfing silence and she _kept_ silent, all the while her toes curled on the muddy soil; her heels floated on gossamer air when she literarily _threw_ her arms around _his_ chest, embracing him tightly from behind and that action knocked the wind out of his lungs, totally _not_ expecting her to... _embrace_ him so ardently in a similar fashion that one would embrace a _beloved one,_ and the words mixed with the resonance of her tears free falling along her cheeks made something ache into his body for a nanosecond. "No, stop this, please! You are _destroying_ everything!"

And by demolishing everything Sakura didn`t only emphasized his enemy, but his own humanity as well, and once he lost this last figment of hope, then he could proudly state that he became the darkness itself. Her own ticking compass pounding frenetically into her chest was grieving and _calling_ for him, screaming and pleading for the absorbed in twilight Uchiha to hear and acknowledge it and come take her hand that was outstretched to him freely and openly, without waiting for anything in return except for him to **grab** it.

Something moved inside his chest even if it was a brisk zephyr passing the solitude in his frigid heart in a fugitive glimmer; he felt it physically, it stole a breath away from him that he didn't want to relinquish to her endearing words, it conquered the thirst and the rage he felt for those shinobi who transgressed HIS Village and an unexplainable hate and need to PROTECT that brisk fragment blinded him with rage.

Those hands... a pair of suave hands were entwined upon his chest like a silent prayer sent to him and him alone, pressing on his left pectoral right above his _heart_ and that precise Swiss clock which usually thumped steadily and proudly now speeded up its peace like trying to compete with the feelings that _she_ was awakening and summoning from the abyss of his conscience.

Eyes that bleed and entrapped every fragment of Uchiha`s long history of suppressed ardent emotions now shuffled to those Princess porcelain hands belonging to this Priestess, who was still a crystal _doll_ in the hands of destiny, gazing intently at how they twined around his form like a  promise that she tried to treasure so dearly.

A moist opaline cheek tapped his spine right between his shoulder blades; a hot imploring breath was warming his nape blowing into his lush raven hair words full of a silent plea that broke the darkness in half and pulverized any demon hiding in the eclipse, as it brought a timid lucent of a diaphanous _light_ into the coldness of his Jutsu.

"Let," His husky voice was suppressed as Sasuke briefly squeezed his eyes that burned like fireworks in the sky shut, wetting his thin lips and almost gnarled to the Priestess. "go."

"No… no!" Why, oh, _why_ was she making it all so difficult by opposing his every word, by not obediently following his warning as he tried to mask it and not openly threaten a woman, especially someone who was so fragile that even the _sky_ will weep for their beloved angel if she disappeared by his hand. "No, I won`t leave you to continue this, I can`t, this is my..." Her duty.

It was a Priestess` job to turn the grieving hearts into _roses_ and flowers of happiness. Sasuke was so far out of reach, so lost into his hate, so absorbed by his quenching hatred, and yet somehow, this has become _more_ than just her role as a forgiving soul. "you are infuriating me with your coldness, with how _stubborn_ and reticent you are!" She kept on calling to him and showering him with missives that he refused to accept.

Sasuke jerked his shoulders once sternly trying to pry her hands off him, but something... _something_ about her presence warmed them both suddenly and unexpectedly; it was like a mantle of light that he felt physically, one that he couldn`t explain.

Sasuke concluded that it was a technique or a cheap trick to fool him, but this is impossible since she was restrained and he had those eyes to see right through every deception so no , it was something else it was... her sheer FEELINGS. That lush overflowing of her heart the spring to those words which were spilling freely to him and he _didn't_ want any of this; she was so sincere, so overwhelming and so inappropriate in this context and honestly, the Uchiha didn't have the _weapons_ to fight something so kindhearted.

The entrapped raven haired Uchiha looked in disorientation to her wrists and they glowed brightly in pulsating radiance of _his_ chakra in the same hue as his Susanoo, but the contrast with her nacre skin and the fact that _she_ was marked by it annihilated the vile resonance twinkling in return like sapphire jewelry around her wrists. "you are just like your friend said... a BASTARD!"

"Let me go, this isn't child's play." Sasuke hissed to her venomously visibly suppressing his fury and it was not entirely forwarded to the Priestess alone; he couldn't pry her off his person, his body wasn't responding like he wanted. The Uchiha entwined their fingers together upon the swell of his chiseled chest and tried to peel her hands off, but his muscles froze like that out of his own accord in that _wrong_ embrace – such a delicate sign of affection which he _wasn't_ returning. "it isn't the time for-."

"-I don't care what time is it," Sakura boldly intervened. "I am _not_ letting you do any more damage, you won, you defeated everyone so why won't you stop?!"

"Why do you fucking care?" Sasuke`s baritone tremble raised for an octave enhancing his frustration and agitation and losing his cold temper that became his trademark, but Sakura had all the right buttons to press and vex him every time she was waltzing in his vicinity and he despised and resented her for this, wanting nothing more than to slice the ropes that kept her _tied_ to him and set her free to spread her delicate wings out of this den of demons and fly away.

She must let go of him, she was doing _something_ uncanny and occult to keep him steadfast into her embrace, it became impossible to breathe normally, his chest hurt like a boulder was pressing heavily on it and his lungs filled with something that weighed more than just a gust of air, so what was going on?

"Because I don't want to GIVE up on YOU!" The last of the Uchiha would have gasped aloud at how that line resonated amidst the epitome and embodiment of hatred and decaying of hearts so overflowing with ardent sentiments and so _romantic_ and endearing and had it been anyone else in his place, he might have been touched, but not him.

Sasuke froze entirely with his hands almost sliding off her own Princess like ones that hugged him so tightly and elegantly, while he fought with that invisible _force_ that opposed to him to pry her hands off him and unclasp her feelings that locked around his torso like a lock of **hope** , but he proved to be weaker than those feelings that she summoned, and this infuriated him beyond belief.

"I refused to be a _coward_ like you and give up on happiness, on light, on salvation on... LIFE! You might be an obsequious coward, but _I_ am not! I am the Priestess of _Tea_ ," For whatever that concept stood for suddenly sounded imperial and majestic; her voice was quivering because of the simmering tears gleaming within her emerald crystal eyes, but she was unaware of it as her own body that was so intimately pressed against his back was listening to his own and slowly responding even though his words were so distant and standoffish. "and I know for a fact that every soul resembles a LEAF fluttering into this giant _perennial_ Tree that we colloquially call the _Leaf Village_ , so we are _both_ **connected** by being part of this DANCE!"

"I don't care about what you think and nor I am not interested in what you have to offer so let me _go_ so that I can finish-"

"-I don't care if you care about me or not, because I _do_ care enough for BOTH of us." Then her voice abruptly broke into a zephyr diaphanous whisper of million melodic harps strings breathing to him gently. "this is my DUTY. Don't you realize?"

Another wave of a lacerating silence sprinkled with so much tension that even Sasuke`s shoulders could hardly contain it. Heavy eyelids pertaining to obsidan sapphire hues lowered for a moment, feeling heavy and overtired. There was no enemy attacking them anymore. His friends, his comrades have stopped any intervention and he could feel Naruto chakra flicker somewhere in the distance.

The ebony haired male could perceive his heart pound madly into his eardrum akin to a bass guitar; he never heard his heart beating with something else than pure adrenaline since he was so dead and hollow on the inside thus his heart so far has never resonated to anything but darkness and solitude, so why was it thumping so frenetically now?

Suddenly there was only silence everywhere. Nothing except for an eerie silence and a Priestess whose form fell like a diaphanous ray of sunshine warming his back and nape in a torpid August morning, so calm and so mollifying, like everything has fell prey to this tempting tantalizing taste of Paradise; the soothing feeling of becoming nothing yet everything at once bloomed along with her petite form tangling with his own; those feelings dissipating into the air and blending into the sun and blue sky kissing the sun and touching the infinite azure with his fingertips felt poisonous and yet so incredibly captivating and _tempting_.

What was happening now, what _is_ this outre sentiment, this body sensation, this corybantic fluttering of thousand birds grazing the sky being set free from the vault of his chest, the queasiness and the need to turn around and... _return_ her embrace?

 _Why?_

How can you fly with broken wings? How can one conquer the den of light when he lived in the world of eternal penumbra? And more importantly how could Sakura as a Priestess be a _guide_ for someone who was so cold and willing to relinquish all the feelings in lieu for darkness and loneliness, so willingly?

 _For a heart that never knew the existence of another heart... was there a resonance that they could create?_

The enfranchisement of spirit is what this man was afraid of; he kept on being moored to the concept of darkness because he was afraid to fly high. But it's not the _wings_ that get one to the sun Sakura realized, but the **feelings**. The sole spirit that is able for deliverance only lied in the light. Darkness... can _never_ fly high because the sky is the realm of light.

Sasuke on the other hand seemed to only be capable of shining under the moon`s light; that celestial planet revving around the night's veil, being the majestic light that sweetens any penumbra, highlighting not only the demons but also magic, feelings, intimacy, and _romance_.

Sasuke was yet to discover the _other_ side of the moon. This is how she felt him today in the company of his other faithful blonde friend, whose tonic energy was akin to its Yang symbolism - the monster that always watches from the shadows. Is this what Sasuke wished to comprise? The eternal _antagonist_ of Light, supporting and guarding it from the shadows?

Considering the fact that the moon`s light is borrowed from the sun, then does it have its _own_ glow or does it live in the penumbra of the sun forever? She had to feel it to depict the truth -his **essence;** this man was lost in the darkness; hatred has made him stray along the meandering deceiving paths of twilight for the Uchiha lost his way back to the light, conveniently closing his eyes and becoming **blind.**

He embraced darkness until he melted into its limbs, metamorphosing into the **child of the night;** darkness was his only faithful companion. By eliminating everything that people believed in, every holy thing that they harbored feelings for and entrusted a fragment of their Fate and happiness, to something stronger than them in the form of a symbol -a conceptualization of the supreme feeling, they did it not because they were weak, but because they were courageous enough to seek for Nirvana -the supreme liberation from the clutches of the cycle of hatred.

 _A carousel with no return._

No, no human was born to be alone, not even the twinkling stars were alone on the sky, even though there was so much distance spanning between them, yet they were still part of the same sky. What was this man's lucky star? What constellation was his fate under? Why so much darkness? He hoped to sever the _bonds_ between him and the others under the false ideology that the estrangement of the soul will make him stronger.

 _What a naive fool..._

This is when it hit her hard! Sasuke _wasn't_ evil by definition, he was just an  antagonist. This is why he was still surrounded by his mismatched comrades; she saw how he interacted with the blonde Uzumaki and that bond was not for pretense. Sasuke is not _using_ them, he was genuinely asking for their opinion; he had trusted them enough to entrust his dream to a common cause and join their organization.

As a Priestess, Sakura was versed to read in the stars and every soul belonged to a peculiar constellation. This young Uchiha man with such an August name that she has just learned, one that he refused to disclose to her, was seeking for estrangement because he viewed _bonds_ as something to add to his _weakness,_ but it was exactly _that_ particular type of weakness that the bonds created, it being the  greatest strength of all.

Because there was always someone else who was stronger, wiser, more avid for revenge and power than him, but feelings... once established then they became unfathomable; they were tied in a knot to last forever.

If Sakura was to view things like this, if she would put aside the fact that Sasuke had his hands stained with blood, adding to the fact that he was derisive in depicting her role by not abiding to something so superfluous as her symbolism, if she went beyond the fact that _his_ Chakra kept _hers_ restrained and turning her into a prisoner, then she could get a glimpse into his pain. Suddenly, Sakura felt tears burn under her eyelids for his condition.

She felt so sorry for that nebula of darkness that veiled his aura up to the point where it took the form of a _weapon_ , a manifestation of his _spirit_. This is what the Priestess felt about Sasuke`s abominable eye technique; the one that he called Susanoo -a title that went back into the legend.

Everything about his techniques let Sakura realize that there was much _more_ about this gorgeous looking man that she didn't quite comprehend, just like she was unable to phantom the reason why was her own heart pounding faster than normal and her breath became more laborious whenever he looked into her eyes with all the intensity of an undone hurricane washing away along the shoreline in such an irresistible way.

Something about the warmth that he exuded through his masculine limber body was making her innards churn like being lighted up by an ancestral bonfire and melting her like a candle. There were entombed fragments of a blooming feeling that she could not explain but it was constantly manifesting whenever her eardrums got caressed by the resonance of his tenor voice, and yet there was something mysterious and melodious in his husky velvety voice that Sakura couldn't place.

Albeit those filigree tremors that Sasuke sent sailing along her limbs dissipating into her toes were not the consequence of panic or fright.

They veiled something more mysterious underneath, an emotion that could not be comprised by a word. Uchiha Sasuke was not just a vapid strong man who possessed a formidable technique that blood curling in his thirst for dominance, but something more defined and profound.

And this made Sakura very curious about his character as a complex character which would allow her to get an insight about his purpose in life, because of unlike the regular rogue and terrible villas, _this_ Uchiha had steady solid dreams. He had a purpose and his passion stirring those flames boiling into his Uchiha blood were sizzling hotter than in any other of his comrades.

While Sakura kept on holding him tight refusing to let go and feeling like her own fire wanted to burn entwined with his own, seemingly melting into his muscled back, Sasuke was cracking his skull in trying to conjure ration and logic to help him limn those feelings coursing unabashsed along the column of his spine, because for one suspended glimmer in time, the pain that came along with overusing Susanoo seemed to have faded away into nothingness and he has been draped into a sweet drug induced oblivion.

 _What was going on?_ Why couldn't he let go? Why couldn't he turn around and stream his Chidori right through her chest and get over with? What was the name of this disconcerted feeling that was blazing inside him, beguiled by someone as innocuous as a virgin Priestess without Chakra?

 _Where was this power coming from?_

How could she be this _strong_ without using her Chakra? What was this magnetic voltage transpiring between their intimately pressed body that flickered everytime she breathed warmly against his nape?

Sasuke didn't have a need for such tangled feelings; they only made him diverge from his purpose because they entombed the most lethal weapon of all hence they resulted in a mortal weakness namely attachment and affiliations to the others.

He truly with all his being wanted to turn around and _kill_ the beautiful innocent Priestess and it was neither because of her obvious naivety or defiance against his word and nor for the fact that she refused to stay in his home when he threatened not to wander without his consent, but because acting like a... _Priestess._

 _Well duh..._

Rejection took the manifestation of a sheer _disdain_ for Sakura because of how pleasantly _warm_ she felt while she was embracing him so tightly and affectionately in the middle of a fray.

Sasuke absolutely abhorred that idiosyncratic exotic perfume that exuded from her pearl skin; he was seething from every pore at those resonance of her nightingale voice and the way it made him ferment within certitude, bubble with those scalding sensations that she brought along when she pleaded with those healing diamond eyes for him to listen to those words, he hated that.

The warm-hearted pair of small hands cuddling his waist were suffocating him, kicking the wind off his lungs and making his mind reel in a feverous sensation akin to staying under the coalescing tropical sun, wrapped in a torrid obliviousness and the scariest thing about it was the irresistible temptation to just _relinquish_ into it and hug her back.

Feel _her_ body wrapped into his own, so tenderly and affectionately.

Sasuke was not stupid nor oblivious about those things, in fact, he was very sensitive since he did hid his ever heartbeat beat to avoid being entrapped into such a seductive trap - those were feelings of someone loving, dotting, of someone who cared or pretended to care for him, but her genuine words slashed through his chest like a fine honed sword.

He could clearly perceive the rose haired Priestess` balmy breathing fanning against the skin of his neck and the feeling of her warm lush lips breathing through his raven hair as she kept her face nuzzle between his Shoulder blades and it was electric and chilling. He couldn't sidestep away from her, he couldn't unclasp the knot of her interlaced fingers upon his chest and it was a sensation similar to being desensitized.

Sakura kept him pinned with his back on her with her words alone which was so confusing and only inflamed him more. Sasuke was in no need for such petty feelings, this woman was a stranger, a chimera, the illusion of a dream of peace, a fool and an unnamed character with no dreams or a name to be called by, someone who lived a lonely life confined in her little shrine of _lies_.

A lonely soul just like him.

 _No, don't let her in_ , _this is just a trick, an illusion and you have the Sharingan who can eschew from illusions_ so fight back... fight back and don`t let her get closer to us, his mind scream at him and Sasuke agreed to it, but still... she won't let him go, she still kept on embracing him, touching him with so much honesty that he was tempted to believe it himself.

She was so ignorant, so naive, so foolish... how could she run to him like this and stop him from demolishing his enemies so casually and with such a results candid aura?

The Priestess kept on stating that she _cared_ , that it was her purpose in life to be the all forgiving spirit chasing after him like a sunflower yearning for the sun; she seemed not to care about herself and be genuinely concerned for the others` well-being like she held the quintessence of salvation in the palm of her hand and she kept it outstretched to him unconditionally.

 _What is this?_ His temples fulminated in sheer anger, he couldn't stand her presence, her embrace, her voice, her silky skin, her perfume and how fine-grained her body was trimmed like a nymph under his touch, he couldn't stand that.

Sasuke`s mind reeled in an amalgamation of contradicting feelings like never before, emotions that were there was they pleaded with him to be set free just like a crystalline pure stream springing from solid rock and giving life to glistening rivers of hope and felicity, but he refused to unleash something that he won't be able to contain.

"You say you care," Surprisingly, Sasuke managed to be so calm albeit being so distant, but something broke into the resonance of his baritone voice if only for a second and Sakura definitely felt it. Sasuke was aware of her uncanny power so he tried to quickly cover it. "but you don't know WHO I am."

She should stop playing the little Priestess game because he was the most atheist man in the world and the only thing that Sasuke believed in was retribution and nothing else. Revenge for his family`s name which has been tarnished and forgotten somewhere along the paths of time and even that lost its resonance during the years when he matured and grew to be calmer, wiser and less rush.

"Then _show_ me who you are." Her muffled tune came as a soft breeze fanning against his skin and she almost pressed her lips on his nape, tickling him warmly. "Tell me _who_ you are. Help me understand because I do not." Because she couldn't comprehend the reason why was he so tight-lipped and taciturn with everyone and impressive about everything up to the point where anyone would mistake him for his shadow.

His voice became silkier and halcyon but remained cold and emotionless when he responded to her sentimental outburst like he didn't care and nor those worlds did they rich his heart. "A demo-"

"-No!" Sakura injected sternly while tightening her hands around him, thus making their embrace more meaningful -at least from her part. Those glass doll suave hands coiled around his form prevented air to flood his lungs but shockingly, Sasuke felt it unnecessarily to breathe. "you are NOT a demon, this is what you are TRYING to become but not what you REALLY are!"

Everyone had one face that they wanted to present to the real world, one that was created by the pressure from the outside and from the expectations of the others, but that one wasn't the mirror reflection of the _inner_ spirit, and that unexploited territory was the one that she tried to touch with her fingertips –the real Uchiha Sasuke. She wanted to see what type of _man_ he was and not what type of Uchiha he could be or what type of shinobi, based on how society honed him and forced him to become.

Who was Sasuke _without_ his Uchiha family name? Was he more vulnerable, more exposed and more outgoing, or was he simply reduced to one simple face into the crowd? It was that simplicity the seductive trivia that Sakura wanted to reach, because _that_ was the most intimate part of his soul and the most honest one attached to his heart.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because you came to rescue _me_."

There was a short pause between them which lasted longer in their minds than in reality as the time got another meaning whenever they interacted, defying the principles of physics and it was Sasuke the one to break it, while his lids closed for a brief of a second, relieving the tension into his filigree orbs since there was no approaching enemy to dispose of so consequently them and the villagers were safe for now. "I need _you_ to fulfill _my_ dream. This is the _only_ reason."

"It doesn't matter the reason why because what truly matters is the action itself. Your body is faster than your mind and even more stubborn than it, because it doesn't always obey you." Just like now when he was constantly brushing his digits over hers like a shy schoolgirl fidgeting in her seat and trying to summon the courage to ask her crush for his number, but not detaching from her dainty ones and this is something that she could feel; his sculpted shoulders and the lean long fibers of his back amassed so much tension like he refused her presence and wanted to create a shield between them, but still he didn't have the strength to back away from her.

He felt so warm and sturdy, yet so cold and distant even though she was embracing him, submerging into his amazing scent of raw nature`s elements –a unique masculine bouquet.

"Let me go, Priestess." Sasuke started to get annoyed by this emerald-eyed woman and her persistence, but most of all he was miffed by his _own_ ineptitude to push her away from him, hissing the words to her like a venomous cobra and resisting the urge to snarl at her and let it show just how much she was making him lose his cool. "Let me go before I do something that I _might_ regret." Or not.

"So you _do_ care…" The elegant violin voice surmised with a genuine smile blooming softly on her lips at the way his shoulders were slowly relaxing into her embrace, even if his words betrayed suppressed fury because this is not the way he truly felt about her.

Sakura was not a Priestess for nothing; she was trained to read and penetrate those walls around a heart and find the unbiased kernel of everyone`s innate quintessence and appeal to it just like she was now pleading with this handsome Uchiha to listen to her and slowly but surely she found confident that she could make it one day.

Neither of the two of them realized that Yamato was professional and quick enough to snap out of his reverie, gather the peasants and led them to the hideout, letting Sasuke handle everything there and somehow, he knew that it wasn't in his place to barge into the Uchiha`s private matters, thus he left the Priestess in his capable hands for _him_ to deal with her since she was under his surveillance, meaning that something that belonged to _him_ must not be touched by anyone _else_ because a possessive Uchiha on anyone`s back was worse than the Devil`s unleashed fury.

"I don-"

* * *

"-SASUKE!" That was Suigetsu`s equally husky but higher yell storming in their direction, dragging his half broken in half Kubikiribōchō sword along the pavements, with Karin and Naruto trailing after him, closing into the bizarre scene unfolding like a romance thriller movie amidst a battlefield of pulverized Kumo shinobi.

Sasuke found the opportunity good enough to pry the rosette off him, somehow snapping out of that sweet trace with no escape that Sakura conjured around them, finding it easier now to break the mirror when it showed _more_ than just _their_ conjoined reflection in it and she let her arms slide along his sides falling from his broad chest, both turning into the direction of the approaching shinobi, who were leaping to the pair. "What the heck man, you nearly burned us too when you shoot that thing to the enemy, damn it!"

Fine raven eyebrows drew in a deep frown while looking at the approaching group, finally breaking the technique as his star-shaped pattern of the Mangekyou reversed to his normal Sharingan, blinking twice to alleviate the tension in those dangerous eyes, snarling at the rogue shinobi who looked quite beaten up. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Karin was worried about your ass being whooped by the enemy." Suigetsu flashed the amusing Uchiha before him his sharky canine in a peculiar sign that he was mocking him and pointed to the scowling red haired female taunting her while making Sasuke`s frown deepen at his choice of implied words, grinning mischiviously.

"I guess that you have been quite _busy_ and definitely in no imminent... _danger_." Aquamarine mischievous orbs betraying the fact that he was entertained and having fun because of the rather _intimate_ scene unfolding between Sasuke and Sakura, shuffling his gaze to the mysterious peregrine looking female, whistling low at the explicit beauty exuding from her and the way she stood almost _too_ close to the Uchiha –closer than he would allow anyone to approach him, and this made him inwardly roll on the floor laughing his ass out loud, because the jealous and possessive obsessed fangirl behind him was definitely fuming like a furnace upon seeing another female who was not _her,_ getting into Sasuke`s personal bubble, clearly being a reputable _competition._

While Sasuke clasped his digits in a vicious punch barely taking hold of his impulse to punch the living daylights out of Suigetsu for daring to mock him, keeping that frown etched on his handsome face, Karin proved to be a proud volcanic Uzumaki with an easygoing personality expressing her thoughts without restraint when she whirled on her heel and punched Suigetsu square into the face.

"Shut up you asshole!" Her flushed cheeks saturated with the same tinge as her hair in total embarrassment, coughing awkwardly once and trying her best _not_ to let it show that Sasuke`s presence was _affecting_ her so much, while Suigetsu`s head sprinkled in droplets of water spraying all along his form, but everyone could see it on his liquefied figure that the bastard was laughing at them.

Wine red orbs traveled from Sasuke`s calloused face to the exotic emerald-eyed woman beside him, giving her an arrogant once over, snarling and crossing her arms over her chest. "Who`s this?" She inquired rudely, while Sakura was also studying Sasuke`s group intently, but unlike the Uzumaki female before her, she was rather curious and… still trying her best to calm her racing heart that was fluttering and tossing into her chest like a Phoenix bird spreading its wings wide open and endeavoring to be set free to soar to the azure.

Now being an ex-Orochimaru trainee and one of his best devoted companions, Uzumaki _Karin_ also seemed to have multiple personalities, for she was easily flipping through them like pages of a demented novel and she knew exactly _when_ to be rough, stern, serious and composed and when to let it show that underneath her calloused peculiar and coquettish daring appearance, she too had a _softer_ side which craved to be loved and had a sensitive spot for a certain _Uchiha_ ever since she has been a subject to how amazing he truly was, albeit Sasuke appreciated that she was keeping those impulses to flirt with him to the minimum, unlike other –too many- females.

But even more than a rogue ninja with an uncanny useful healing ability, Karin was a _woman_ and, as a true woman, her natural instincts of protecting the man she had feelings for manifested in the form of a stinging _jealousy_ stabbing her like a bee`s needle right through her chest –a place that was now constricting painfully upon looking at this solar woman who seemingly had no fragment of malice into her bones, only that radiating genuine smile that started to annoy her and make her somehow… _edgy._

His suppressed exasperation came as a short sigh, while Sasuke scraped a hand up through his dissray ebony hair which spilled on his forehead and threw a glance at the rose haired prisoner of his, aware that every one of his comrades with a functional eye will recognize _his_ Jutsu around her wrists, but he decided not to be a total ass with them and replied anyhow keeping his voice dull and void of emotions. "This is the Priestess of Te-"

Naruto, on the other hand, has been witnessing the short moment between the two because unlike Suigetsu and Karin, he took the roofs to approach the Uchiha`s location and thus he has seen the two of them from a higher location, finding it completely jaw-dropping, emotional, sentimental and completely lovely how this gorgeous Priestess -who was being reduced to a normal civilian because of the chakra restrainer, was having such an inner **powerful spirit** that was overwhelming Sasuke`s own strength by far, and his surprising wisdom has caught this antithesis between them: while both Sasuke and Sakura were using their _spirit_ to create their weapons of choice in the form of Susanoo, Sakura was using her spirit to only make _love,_ being aware that it was one if not the best weapon to fight and the most prolific one winning against his darkness and stepping into his personal bubble so sincere and so Sasuke was absolutely powerless to push her away. 

So this is the reason why he cut the Uchiha short with a buoyant energy that matched Sakura`s effervescent personality, attracting the eyes of the four people before him when he hollered in that obstreperous distinctive manner. "-she`s Teme`s new _girlfriend_!"

"What?! Are you serious?!" The sole female Uzumaki present shrieked at the top of her lungs in total puzzlement, losing the cool façade that she was striving to maintain upon hearing Naruto`s declaration.

Suigetsu and Naruto burst in a rancorous laughter at the way Sasuke turned more murderous looking in a nanosecond, with his orbs gleaming like a bleeding moon and his aura took a sharp resonance, but at the same time, his earlobes turned red like tomatoes betraying that, not only the Uzumaki was somehow correct in his assumption, but also he was also _embarrassed_ about his vulnerability and weakness in front of such a petite fragile glass doll.

"How can she be your... you're- how have the two of you met anyway?! Is she an _enemy_? _That_ Sealing Jutsu… she is your _prisoner_ what the heck Sasuke?!" Karin`s rambling and stuttering of nonsense made burning tears amass under Naruto and Suigetsu`s eyelashes, both prompting each other`s laughing forms on their shoulders like clumsy drunkards snickering at everything that moved within their field of blurry vision, being benumbed and completely oblivious and they barely kept themselves from falling on their butts, laughing their asses out loud and the comical scene before them.

This was so much fun; mocking Sasuke about his sexuality and private life –which was as tumultuous and interesting as it was completely _nonexistent_ \- was pure comedy, no matter the situation.

Before the Uchiha had the chance to properly _'introduce'_ this flying bird -who was hard to catch and tame- to his ridiculous insane companions, Sakura has injected him as he didn't even get the chance to open up his mouth and snarl, beaming of an unusually glowing energy that even took the three people before her by surprise at how buoyant she could be in such a context.

"I am the Priestess of Tea." While Naruto resisted the urge to grin at the playful pinkette just because her energy was contagious and effervescent, Suigetsu and Karin`s jaws nearly dropped to the ground when they realized that _this_ woman is Sasuke`s infamous prisoner –the one who gave him a run for his money and basically humiliated him while escaping his sorry ass with such a smart trick and albeit the Uchiha didn't give them _all the details,_ those closet perverts from his team of rogue shinobi were fast in coming up with the rest of the story and even ornamented it with filigree juicy details, much to the Uchiha`s annoyance, about how a gorgeous woman has broken his balls into the forest.

They laughed nonstop at the mighty supposed Uchiha lady-killer.

"He saved me from the enemy." She added just as jolly while her smile never dissipated from her incredibly suave features and albeit no one exactly knew why did the Priestess feel the need to add such a trivia to her introduction, it _did_ took her audience by surprise.

What Sakura was in fact doing was to somehow, bring it to the light the fact that Sasuke had a human caring side in him and there was still a grain of _good_ left in him, although his companions might not have witnessed it many times before, with the exception of the blonde shinobi with the most azurite big eyes that Sakura has ever seen, who seemed to be as close as a brother to the Uchiha –the one that Sasuke called _the dobe._

Karin was the first one to collect her sanity and bristle at the unbelievable situation presented because as far as she knew, Sasuke –and considering the fact that they spent quite a long time being teammates and she knew about his cold heart that will allow no one inside no matter how persistent that person it might be, to see this woman staying _too_ close to the Uchiha and talking about him and his mannerism _too_ casually while he only glared at them instead of sternly correcting her, was something that was as unbelievable at it was _unacceptable_ to her.

 _He could not have feelings for this woman, no way! For someone so pathetic with her bizarre appearance, this was impossible! Karin will not tolerate something so outrageous._

"Well good for you, _sweety_ ," The red haired Uzumaki snarled to a very relaxed Sakura. "he probably pities you. I mean," Not letting it show that she was ready to leash to the pink haired famous Priestess and choke her to death with her bare hands, Karin coughed once so as to seem stoic and dominant and pushed the glasses that slide along the bridge of her nose back on her wine orbs, crossing her arms upon her chest arrogantly giving Sakura a derisive once over like she was worth nothing. "just look at you! Heh, you are so weak and pathetic."

Her smug stare shuffled to Sakura's wrists, narrowing her orbs at the Uchiha's outre choice for a Jutsu to restrain this woman, seeing that she was the only one so far that he has tried this Kinjutsu on and this made an unsettling feeling course through Karin and this time, it had nothing to do with her _shinobi_ intuition but her _woman_ intuition, one that was even more accurate. "and a _prisoner_ too. Sasuke doesn't even care about you, so don't be a delusional fool."

They kept on talking casually about Sasuke like he wasn`t there.

"On the contrary Karin," Suigetsu injected obstreperously while he wiped off his tears that prickled at the corner of his playful mischievous orbs with the back of his hand, as he was busy laughing his ass out loud along with the equally obnoxious blonde Uzumaki, equally throwing wild facts and assumptions about what he was thinking about, when in reality no one has ever been capable of penetrating his mind and read what was inside, so no one actually knew what lied behind that frown, except for the fact that his aura turned menacing and stern once again and his handsome features were twisted in a glare so zealous that they were eschewing their gazes from him, saying nothing at all. "I say that our brooding _leader_ here cares a lil` bit _too_ much for this pretty chick, since she is wearing HIS clothes."

Upon hearing this quite smart observation, Naruto gave Suigetsu a hi-five for pissing off Karin in her unleashed energetic moment of sheer jealousy upon seeing such a reputable competition being successful in traipsing into Sasuke`s bubble in such a short notch of time, while he along with the other women who desired him couldn't even begin to dream about acting so familiar with the Uchiha, and of course, for managing to successfully embarrass Sasuke.

Although it was quite visible that Sasuke was trying his best to suppress a fierce comeback and punch the living daylights of them for transgressing any moment that might have transpired between him and the Priestess -one that was probably very poetic and rather intimate, his orbs were genuinely revealing smothered fierceness and fury.

He was a pro at successfully concealing his figments preventing them to tinge his handsome face the ebony haired Uchiha was as hard to read as he was statuesque in beauty, but Naruto and Suigetsu knew that the topic _'women'_ and their so-called _claim_ on him was topping his list of annoying things and this is why the entire situation turned from bloody and menacing, to comical and ridiculous -at least for the Uchiha heir.

Sakura on the other hand felt a virgin pink perusal stain her cheeks as she tucked a disarray rose lock around her hear in a cute gutless gesture eschewing her orbs in a mesmeric way that only someone who was an angel on the inside as well as on the outside could pull with such nonchalance, and said absolutely nothing to the bold remark and surprisingly, neither did Sasuke.

Karin`s wine grapes orbs flew wide open in horror like she was witnessing the Bijuus going on a rampage right before her orbs signalizing the end of the shinobi world, and she seethed almost making them all cringe and go deaf like a veritable banshee.

"Wait... WHAT?! Oh my God, this is true, they _smell_ like _his_ chakra! Why the hell is _his_ chakra imprint all over YOU?!" She hollered to the Priestess and to the laconic Uchiha, briefly forgetting _who_ was she addressing too and acting like a jealous wife who has just caught her infidel husband cheating on her with a younger woman, pointing to the still blushing ashamed Sakura who found herself in quite an embarrassing situation.

Now that her senses were on haywire, Karin sniffled on the jadeite eyed Princess` aura and her orbs grew into a fierce frown realizing that indeed, Sasuke`s unmistakable intoxicating masculine scent was lingering all over this mysterious Priestess that the Leaf shinobi and civilians adored and worshipped, finding it suddenly hard to breathe and a reeling feeling almost had her lose balance.

That only confirmed the rumors rippling among their organization that Uchiha Sasuke has imprisoned the famous Priestess after an adventurous chasing game through the forest and made her his _concubine_ and this made Karin feel somehow betrayed and sick on her stomach.

"Actually," Sakura murmured softly and for the first time, her suave tone held something more than just effervescence into it, a feeling that was both cherishing for someone dear`s memory and sympathy. "this fine kimono belonged to his _mother_."

A round of obstreperous flabbergasted gasps followed suit when the innocent Priestess sprouted something so taboo for Sasuke and immediately orbs shuffled to Uchiha`s visage to find that seemingly unleashed frenzy and rage which was characteristically for him whenever someone dared to touch the memory of his beloved family even with a word of remembering amassing into his eyes, but he gave off nothing of what was cursing inside his troubled mind, not a single muscle pulled which was beyond outré since that topic was quite uncomfortable to him, but apparently he indeed grew colder to anything that once he held so dearly.

In an instant, any frown or scowl has dissipated into the marble features which turned into the epitome of iciness and stoicism and his onyx eyes that reversed from the Sharingan were just as enclosed as they were hard, rough, calloused and unreadable, only stunning through their explicit beauty and intangibility and this was so bizarre and unseen.

 _What was going on?_

Sakura frowned softly at Karin like her words of mockery and rudeness didn't faze her in the bit and nor did it touch her heart –even if she too was easily hurt, and being surrounded by enemies who were cornering her was hurting her deeply, fighting Karin`s hate and negative aura with light and kindness. "Are you able to read chakra? Wait... you are an _Uzumaki_ , right? The Uzumaki females are having a great life force and thus they are very sensitive. You are just like Uzumaki Kushina-san or Uzumaki Mito-sama, the first Hokage's wife."

Naruto`s masculine jaw hit the floor with a loud thud followed by a short uncomfortable silence casting upon the five people, one that was weighing the world upon their shoulders, not quite expecting someone who looked like a crystal butterfly trapped in a spider`s net to be so astute and so resourceful, but apparently this Priestess was not so naïve, foolish and weak as they thought –all except for Sasuke who knew better that this woman was much more than the eye could see, hence he kept his mouth shut and refrained from sending Suigetsu, Karin, and Naruto the hell out of there and leave him alone, simply because he wanted to see how Sakura was defending herself in front of someone as volcanic as Karin and how was she reacting in a pinch when she was at clear disadvantage and so far she didn't disappoint him, in fact, he was kind of taken aback by her elegance and wisdom.

"Y-You... know my MOM?!" Naruto`s whimsical daffy look on his whiskered visage as he gasped aloud at Sakura`s jolly confession was quite amusing, but then again, who wouldn't be when Sakura brushed such a sensitive topic with such a genuine smile and it was one of those rare moments when Sasuke hasn't seen Naruto getting angry of the fact that someone was bringing his parents up and evoked their memory –especially his mother`s, but then again, who could ever get furious of this Priestess of Tea when she was reminiscent to popping cherry blossom -so innocent, pure and polite?

This pink haired girl was capable of taming any _beast._

"Not personally but yes, I have heard about Kushina-san. She was the former Jinchuurichi of the Nine-Tailed Fox. She has saved this Village, thus she is a hero worth of all the acclamation."

Something in the way she put it didn't make Naruto snap in anger, on the contrary, she was praising the woman`s memory instead of throwing a derisive comment that would enrage the usually buoyant a solar blonde, but she used a very decorously tone to evoke Kushina`s sacrifice and it was quite _emotional_ to hear someone address him with such respect, instead of forgetting about the heroine who saved the Village along with her husband and mistreat their children, out casting him to the point of a heavy discrimination and dismay, and not taking into account that they were supposed to _protect_ him as the son of two _heroes_ and not brand him as a dangerous _weapon_ that they should dispose of –a  monster.

Just the same way, Sasuke`s darkness has slowly metamorphosed into a beast, but unlike him, Naruto had stronger morals and values about peace, friendship, love and bonds, and albeit no one taught him about it, they were already ebbed into his blood as part of his inheritance from his genius father who was a former Hokage and his strong-willed mother Kushina.

Naruto was still busy catching flies, remained suspended somewhere into a recurrent memory written into the sand and coming up from the desert of recollections ricocheting back to him, and he was unable to mumble anything coherent, simply staring at this celestial beautiful Priestess with wide open orbs, while unlike him, Karin was bristling and chafing in pure anger mentally imagining herself choking that elf looking shorter woman with bizarre exotic features for the way she was easily getting under everyone`s skin so easily and uninvited without encountering opprobrium, even from Sasuke!

Which was unacceptable; the jealousy in her was bursting and bubbling in sizzling waves and this is the reason why she returned back to the main topic of discussion, seeing that Sasuke was simply fixing all of them with that murderous stare, everyone except for this Priestess and the way he was letting those onyx shuffle occasionally to her form whenever she sang like an angelic harp in Paradise, words worthy of a naïve fool, lacked the usual malice albeit there were an abnormal iciness and edginess wreathed around a questionable curiosity coming from him and this almost made Karin fly off the handle.

Sasuke wasn't _supposed_ to look at her like _that;_ she was a nobody, a prisoner of his, one that must be used to get to the villagers and crush the fighting spirit of the other imprisoned Leaf shinobi, nothing more and nothing less.

 _Clearly not._

The red haired Uzumaki female was alert of the rumors and mockeries circulating amidst their dark organization about Sasuke being quite an _acquaintance_ with this female and she didn't like it in the bit.

Sasuke was hers, she has been part of the small platoon that has been there for him when he killed his brother, _she_ was there to witness how he trained under Orochimaru`s wings before he killed him without remorse when he decided that the serpent resembling male had nothing else valuable to teach him, _she_ was the one who has been a witness of Sasuke finding out the truth about his family from the mystery man that claimed to be Uchiha Madara`s haunting spirit and _she_ was among a privileged small group of people that Sasuke trusted the most.

 _She_ knew parts of his heart that he kept hidden from everyone else, or at least _she_ claimed to know him much better than the majority and in her mind, this gave Karin an advantage in front of all the other females who were constantly gravitating around the handsome Uchiha and unlike them, Karin didn't like Sasuke _solely_ for his power and gorgeous looks alone, but she also grew very fond of him for who he was as a _man_ , albeit there were times when she didn't get him entirely.

They were both people who have tasted, seen and touched _pain_ thus she could find a liaison between them, but the Priestess of Tea was someone who was his antithetical to him in all the ways possible.

Her ways were antipodal with his, her kinesics were more resembling Naruto`s in effervescence and zeal, but never matching Uchiha`s Cimmerian shade. The Priestess of Tea didn't have this eclipse of heart like Sasuke did, and Karin could easily depict her inner nature despite her chakra being restrained and never _ever_ will Sasuke be attracted to this white dove no matter how much was that jade eyed woman trying to appeal to him; of this Karin was positive.

Or was it edginess and the gust of jealousy and competition the thing that kept the rather astute Uzumaki woman in such a self-denial? This is why she coughed awkwardly again solemnly twice attracting all the attention back on her and nearly spat those words to Sasuke in seemingly vexation. "Where have you been? We had troubles in getting all the villagers into the hideout without being ambushed by Kumo shinobi!"

Although the Lightning fuckers had no idea where it was located deep into the catacombs of the Hokage Mountain, they were quick in finding them probably using a Sensory Type shinobi to pinpoint them and that Yamanaka female was not very proficient in alerting them about an upcoming attack since she was focusing on conveying Shikamaru`s message to everyone on the battlefield rather than the enemy`s position, but fortunately enough, in the end, they got back up just in time.

She literarily ate a glare from the taciturn Uchiha which was so sinister that Karin almost choked on her own words and it wasn't because of the rude manner of talking to him the thing that made him glare, but the fact that she dared to _question_ his actions like she had a _claim_ on him and this pissed him off really badly.

He was already in a gloomy mood and the entire situation with the Priestess of Tea and her annoying angelic tendencies weren't helping at all, on the contrary it made Uchiha feel cornered and liberated at the same time, in a sensation similar to having his spirit float above his body dematerialized and lacking a shadow and this sentiment of imponderability and inability to touch the ground and remain suspended somewhere in the sky, was making him dizzy and fogged his mind.

And now Karin was throwing a tantrum in pure jealousy being a total bitch with a woman who she probably viewed as love _rival_ when in reality this concept was as ridiculous as it was derisive.

Since when has Sasuke _ever_ shown any _romantic_ interest in his red haired partner and when was has his mannerism swayed in the direction of affection and strayed from the simple partnership to affection? Karin was distorting reality to create a story that was only convenient to _her_ , living under the misconception of her own unfulfilled _fantasies._

 _Sasuke has no feelings of love or affection for Karin. What he felt for her never transcended amity and camaraderie. Never!_

Yes, Sasuke wasn't a stupid teenager who has just hit puberty and whose mind was yet to ripen into adulthood and he definitely wasn't the oblivious and apathetic man that he wanted the others to believe, so he _knew_ it all too well about his effect on _women_ and what Karin was now exuding was rage twined with covetousness and jealousy at something that wasn't even hers; _he_ didn't belong to _her_ and he will never ever nurture any sort of feelings for her, even though he knew that Karin felt for him.

The fact that he chose to conveniently brush it off and cut her short whenever she attempted to do something to get intimate with him didn't mean that he was _not_ being aware of it.

And plus, finding himself a woman was the last thing on his mind -at least for now when his dreams passed this trivia of finding pleasure and abide by petty feelings of amour, and when he will decide to take another step into his plan of restoring the forgotten name of the Uchiha to its former glory, then it would most likely _not_ be Karin the woman to bear his family name.

So she had no plausible reason to get into a fit of envy, Sasuke concluded and this is what he silently conveyed to the red haired Uzumaki before him with that nasty gloomy stare.

Again, sensing blurred clouds of jealousy and the chance to _slice_ that tension between Karin, Sasuke and the gorgeous Priestess in half and laugh at their stoic sex deprived leader who cherished the life of a hermit, Suigetsu couldn't help himself but to pat Karin`s shoulder in a fake sympathy and comfort, throw her a snarky side smirk making the lucent sharp honed canine stick out to her and mocked her.

"Obviously, he couldn't be of so much help because they have been busy touching each other`s bod-" Karin punched his head that sprinkled drops of water all around again making him resemble a fountain and some droplets landed on Naruto`s shoulder.

Sakura gasped aloud at the unexpected manifestation of anger from the seemingly envious Uzumaki female, definitely not expecting such a violent reaction and such an outré display of a Water technique from Naruto`s twin.

Naruto erupted in a crisis of laughter not because of Suigetsu`s indecent retort but because once again, Sasuke`s earlobes tinged with a tomato red hue as well as his regal high cheeks, him being visibly tied up by this repetitive uncomfortable conversation when on the outside he tried his best to be the cobblestone without emotions and it was ten times funnier seeing his obsidian undecipherable orbs going slightly wider in mild puzzlement, almost falling on his knees rolling on the ground.

That was so ridiculous that it was entertaining, the entire situation was anything but funny, there were giant rolls of grey smoke whipping along the village as a clear sign of the damage that those Kumo fuckers did on the Leaf, there were scared civilians and probably crying children amassed in the hideout yelling and yearning for their parents, there were most likely people entrapped under the ruins who needed immediate help and a daunting feeling of tears and pain twined into a depressing landscape was everything that remained after a violent battle.

And even so Naruto started to get a glimmer of what it truly meant to have the Priestess of Team amidst them –she was magically making a Sepia portrait fill with overflowing colors sprinkling in a mesmerizing effluence of light.

She was capable of changing black and white into hope and smiles and God… it was emotional, even someone so dense as Naruto was able to depict it and he knew that his friends could too, albeit they weren't showing it.

With the exception of Suigetsu who was openly winking at her and checking her out, grinning in an unabashed impish way at the beautiful lady before him, being all flirtatious.

"Do you guys want me," A rich leathery tune turned into an avalanche of twilight dropping them all in its menacing resonance when Sasuke decided that he had enough of those nonsenses and injected sternly and colder than any iceberg. "to KILL you all?"

If the luminous blood radiance of his hypnotic orbs weren't enough to comprise the abominable flames in Hell, then his bass voice pressing like the lowest keys of a Pipe Organ with the same sinister resonance successfully made them all stop breathing, blinking or muttering words that drove him absolutely insane with rage.

A heavy tension fell among the small group of people and sweat started to prickle the skin of their foreheads because no matter how much they were trying to deny it, Sasuke`s presence was in a league of its own - he was so sinister and vile when he actually put his mind into it and the bloody tangerine sunset spilling its afterglow behind his back was only enhanced his ominous power, making him look like a beautiful Death Deity or the messenger of Apocalypse.

Sakura`s own breath hitched halfway her lungs and even though she could see it in their eyes that Sasuke`s friends had very contradicting opinion about her, starting with jealousy and ending in fascination and infatuation, her crystal emerald orbs shuffled to the Uchiha beside her in the moment when his aura started to sting her like million invisible electric needles, piercing her opaline skin of her limbs, gulping once to alleviate a lump that was constricting her throat.

Sasuke Uchiha was the most skilled actor she has ever seen -a man with so many masks, which made it impossible to find his real self, since one moment he seemed to be dropping all the walls and feel his solid pavements crumble under his feet when he didn't push her away or rather found himself unable to harshly send her away, and next thing she knew, he looked like a fortress with his eyes so cold and so steel like, that not even darkness had the courage to protrude inside and all those feelings he cajoled were rebarbative.

For two good minutes, no one spoke a word seemingly entrapped into _that_ Sharingan stare that was capable of making the most skillful shinobi drop on their knees and fall like meteorites on his feet in total shame. That type of silence slayed through their skin and lungs and inhaling oxygen seemed like the most laborious job.

Because this time, unlike the moments when he spoke solely to her and his words were more like bickering than actual threats, his words seemed to be genuine and overflowing with malice percolating from his every pore and this part of him frightened Sakura. In moments like this… she couldn't recognize him.

But of course, with such a mismatched group, silence was something overrated, because next thing she knew, the sharky looking Water Nin and Naruto broke in another crisis of a full-hearted laughter, coiling their limbs around their tummies because of the cramps, supporting each other not to fall down, laughing their asses out loud and totally making Sakura`s emerald orbs widen in total puzzlement.

She was positive that Sasuke has managed to paralyze their spines with his menacing aura, but she knew now the reason why these people were stuck to him –they were not _afraid_ of him in the bit.

Not even this woman Karin who seemed so jealous on her without a logical reason, who looked more like ready to jump him and melt into a puddle of steamy chocolate in total infatuation of his rebel 'bad boy' aura, rather than be remotely scared by the dead serious threat was afraid of his approach and it only proved it to Sakura that these bunch of people was not sane on the contrary, they seemed to dance the waltz of insanity and bipolar personalities like professional psychopaths, and Sasuke was _no_ exception.

 _This people are crazy!_

 _Man, this is so priceless,_ Suigetsu and Naruto both mentally rolled on the floor in hysterics. Karin was dripping of a venomous typical woman`s ardent jealousy because Uchiha seemed to be calmer and more complacent in the presence of the Priestess which was puzzling for someone who was keeping her as a prisoner while in reality she looked like anything but.

And to add to the already amusing scenery, Suigetsu and Naruto added a pure oblivious Priestess with a stoic embarrassed leader to that already spicy drama. "Dude, will ya` chill out man?" Suigetsu wept a tear from his aquamarine shimmering playful eye, looking at Uchiha who was probably mentally strangling them both with his bare hands between blurring tears of pure amusement, barely mumbling between cackles while Naruto was suffocating beside him, laughing just as hard and loud.

"I think that you are a lil` bit too... TENSE," He then turned to Sakura who was looking innocently at them not understanding those innuendos at all and this made it all the funniest. "how about some... RELEASE to help ya` out with all that amassed _stress_?"

Karin was seething and fuming in sheer fury and jealousy sizzling like a furnace and her nails were pressed deeply down her palm leaving marks of half-moons into the soft skin until it turned red while her cheeks went the color of her orbs and hair making her look like a traffic light.

"Stop spouting such nonsense, you shark breath! Sasuke is obviously not interested in this… this," She looked at Sakura with a splenetic horrible glare scowling down to the confused rose haired woman, like she was a gum under her shoe. "…this ELF!" The Uzumaki female pointed to her peregrine features, but that only made Naruto and Suigetsu laugh even harder sounding like honking trucks on the highway because it was crystal clear that Sakura`s exotic features and this cocktail of tropical fruity cocktails and infinite emerald oceans were making her an undeniable Goddess, who any man would kill to have, her jealousy being at its finest here.

"I don't know about this Karin," Suigetsu traipsed closer to a blushing Sakura, winking at her and supporting himself on his sword grinning down at the undeniable gorgeous unique woman with the most captivating iridescent orbs. "she looks quite the catch to _me_. If Sasuke isn't treating ya` right darling, then you can come to me anytime you want, `cos unlike this asexual stoic bastard with no hormones, I _do_ know how to properly treat a _lady_."

Sakura didn`t know how to react to such daring approach finding herself quite uncomfortable by his unpolished manners which were in total contradiction to Sasuke`s standoffish grace but suddenly she sensed a spike in Sasuke's chakra.

It burned her wrists the way his chakra was steadily raising in a clear sign that he was fuming on the inside, but kept himself on a leash. "Ha! If you have such a bad taste, then it doesn't mean that _Sasuke_ has too!" Karin interjected right back to a smirking Suigetsu pointing her finger rudely to the sharky Hozuki male. "Right, Sasuke?" She threw a coquettish look at the Uchiha who looked like ready to leash to them and rip their heads off.

Naruto was cackling under his breath looking at the tension between Sasuke and Sakura from the sidelines; they were completely oblivious to the magnetizing effect that kept them tied with invisible ropes and this is why he started to cackle more.

Naruto was the only one who has seen how Sakura embraced his onyx eyed taciturn friend and calmed him down and the only one who was able to have this effect on him was the memory of his _mother._

Sasuke dragged an exasperated exhales through his nostrils, fine-bombed his luscious lush raven hair that was messier from the previous fight, reverting his Sharingan to his normal sapphire color while stating monotonously. "I'm going home. Finish the business here, go help the villagers with everything they need, help them built back their homes, clean the streets, check if there is any Kumo shinobi left inconspicuous as a spy and inform me right away if anything else happens."

"Tsk," Suigetsu clicked on his tongue smirking at the Uchiha. "commanding, aren't we? We are doing all the dirty work while you are going to have _fun_ with your little fairy here. How is this fair?"

He took a glare from Sasuke which only made him smirk wider because Karin was fuming right beside him ready to leash to the Priestess. "What?! _She_ won't be going home with you ALONE, will she?"

"In fact," Naruto found the moment appropriate to interfere. "She IS living with him. I have met her this morning while I was visiting him and she was already there. Teme is keeping-" Naruto halt in his speech and his goofy figure was so amusing, that Sakura resisted the urge to giggle aloud and part of it was because she realized that this Karin woman was obviously in love with Sasuke and jealous on her which was absurd.

She didn`t understand why has Naruto stopped so abruptly, but he answered her silent question when his azurite orbs traipsed to her and watched her with a dumb expression his face. "-what`s your name?"

Sakura almost had a slip of the tongue because responding to Naruto was something natural as he was so solar and friendly. She remembered that she wasn't supposed to disclose her name to anyone no matter the context so she only eschew her sad orbs, tucking a lock of hair around her ears and remained silent.

It was shockingly Sasuke the one to complete the sentence that never rolled out of her mouth. "She doesn't have one, she is someone who has NO identity of her own. She is just the projection of a derisive concept that people have created because of their own ineptitude to rely on their own strength." Naruto frowned as he found this abrupt line rather rude and suspicious, while Suigetsu whistled low on his chest and Karin was the only one who smirked in pure victory.

 _At least Sasuke does not have feelings for this ugly witch._

Something coursed and ached into her heart when Sasuke dropped that comment, because she was afraid that he didn't understand her in the bit; he could never. "Let`s go-"

* * *

"- _Sasuke."_ Said raven haired Uchiha stopped midway his command when Yamato`s Clone interposed into the conversation. His next comment had Sasuke frown instantly for he was positive that they were successful in defeating all the Kumo fuckers. _"There is someone between the Lightning shinobi who is using a strange lightning black Jutsu that resembles a Black Panther. He took away half of our men in one single blow."_

"Black Panther made of lightning?" All eyes flew on the raven haired Uchiha fetching their eyebrows up on his slightly surprised tone. Obsidian stern orbs narrowed to slits then shuffled to Naruto, speaking low and resolute to his best friend. "Dobe," said male sensed at the serious tone and stopped laughing all together, listening intently to Sasuke. "We need to get this over with a powerful combined technique. It`s time to try on _that_ Jutsu."

Azurite orbs went wide as plates.

* * *

A/N:

Hey guys, I am sorry for this long delay in my updates. I know that I have promised to you to keep it as quick as possible but I have been really busy. Warui ne. I am afraid that you might have found this chapter to be a little bit too cheesy as I have been too descriptive with that scene between Sasuke and Sakura, which is an allegiance to the scene between them from the Chunin Exam, but you know that I tend to get lost on the road of details so I hope that it was somehow… bearable. I have more intense moments between them in the upcoming chapters. I know for a fact that most of you were anticipating a meeting between Karin and Sakura so here it is; I hope it did not disappoint.

As always, my best regards and my deepest gratitude goes to my dearest:

 **Guest –** of course, sorry for keeping you waiting!

 **Guest –** always!

 **Urbiggestfan** – thank you and wow, you have quite the unique style.

 **Amy** – I am glad you enjoy it, thank you for sharing it with me.

 **ElevatedJewel –** there is hardly anyone else to understand me better than you dear, thank you for providing feedback on this story of mine too. Yes, you know how much I fancy this antagonist role of Sasuke in the NV and that I do not agree with the ones who go against the story and claim that Sasuke is a villain, which in reality he is anything but. Me too, I SO wanted to see both of them sharing the Hokage position –well in a sense they do, but the Manga did not make it that obvious. Wow, what a profound clever insight! Ah, you flatter me too much. I think that you are the clever one for going so much into the depths of the things and this is the reason why your reviews are compelled and smart that I can make a story out of them! Thank you so much, I am honored to be read by you. You found that funny? I am relieved, because I did not know how to sneak humor into such a solemn scene. Good to know. Regarding your other review, well you know that I tend to use cliché plots so I rely pretty much on the portrayal of my characters to give my stories an unique touch. I am glad that you find them interesting. You know me all too well and yes, you read me like an open book, I like to preserve my characters` essences from the Manga. I am not sure if I always manage to do so, but I am trying, thank you. That you will see because I will expose more of this Jutsu, in fact, like **itsbritneybitch** smartly realized it, this technique is symbolic for their upcoming romance. Hehe, I love your versatility, well I too do not know at this point if I want to top Morphine Hinata in this story, since she is a side character here and in fact, that particular Hinata is something special I have created exclusively for Morphine so… we will see. I should be the one to be honored everytime you refer to me and provide professional feedback so do not even mention it. You are amazing and I am forever an aspiring apprentice to you, sensei!

In the limelight – thank you dear. I know, you are right! I find it funny too that this trivia seemed to be superficially approached, but I do tend to go deeply into details and I have some symbols that I use in my stories, such as a wedding ring or a childhood home, which are powerful elements in a story –at least for me. And plus… I love to see a more domestic side of Sasuke dusting off his home. And doing chores and not to mention… hot. Hehe. They will soon come, do not worry. Thank you so much!

 **itsbritneybitch –** as always your reviews are refreshing and full of insight, but this is expected since you are one of the most astute readers that I had the pleasure to meet. Thank you for the feedback on this chapter too, you have a fine knack to details. I am glad to hear that she is not weak because having her in this submissive role of a prisoner makes it challenging to preserve her strength –I rely on spiritual strength rather than physical. Ah, do not praise me for something like this, you are being too kind and patient with me, thank you. Hehe, I wanted to split the group and see if I can manage to preserve this darkness in some of the Naruto characters which, at some point in time, embraced that path and Yamato as you have depicted him, is no exception. Yeah, I want her to fall from the pedestal and make her way out to the top alone so I can emphasize her pure heart of gold –if this makes any sense. You do know that I use antithesis and interaction between characters to describe their personalities. Thank you so much, you too take care of yourself!

 **C.S –** Thank you so much for being so generous with your words about my story, I am working hard on keeping it shorter than my other projects but preserve my writing tendencies –which sway between pages and pages of looong descriptions hehe

 **Maram –** You are very kind with me, thank you so much, I am glad that you found this chapter so enjoyable. Well I couldn`t have Sakura be so unrealistic and have all the acclamation while she did nothing to truly earn it and I have to build up a solid ground for her future development as both a woman and a Priestess. Do not be sad, her condition will get better in time as the story unfolds. You think? I realized that having Yamato coming to her help would be a break into the cliché plots.

Aquarian Charm – Hey, oh, what a beautiful nickname you have. Thank you so much for your beautiful words. I am doing my best to be as descriptive and insightful as possible in my depiction of emotions and romance. I consider it to be one of my forte. I am relieved that you think like this since I am taking my time to build their romance. I hope that I do not rush it too much. Of course they cannot, I completely agree. I am doing my best to preserve the Manga`s essence of their inner soul in my stories, thank you. I hope that this chapter was not disappointing.

 **Sky –** Yes, definitely agree, count me in because I am also an avid fan of Sasuke`s image as a Kage –of any Village and I will always cheer for him to be a better Leader than Naruto. Agree, it is really an elegant name with a regal resonance, worthy of Uchiha`s heir. Well this is something that I will not spoil, but I definitely agree –Sara-chan is too cute for her own good. Thank you, I am not confident in my limning of fighting scenes and this is the best thing I could come up with. I will go into more details about the Jutsu as the story progress. Really? Oh sounds interesting. I didn`t know of his existence.

 **anime1angel –** you are too kindhearted with me, thank you, I am doing my best to upgrade my weakness as I am yet to write them for my other stories, though I am always edgy about approaching fighting scenes. Thanks, I was afraid that Sakura`s trick might not be so clever, but in the end it seemed to be well received by you the readers. Thank you for being so consistent and faithful! I wish you a great day!

 **lovesasusakuforever –** Thank you, as always you are on point. I am glad that Sakura did not seem weak as you know I fancy describing romantic scenes rather than fighting ones.

 **sakuraXxXShisui** – I know I have not been so lush in sprinkling it with more Sasuke and Sakura moments but I am working on that. I had to go through this battle scenes, warui ne. Thank you for following me and provide feedback!

 **JakuraAngel** – Yeah, I wanted to create a more unique connection between the master and the prisoner and albeit the idea of a restraining Jutsu is already cliché and overly used by many authors before me, I want to give it my own approach. I will disclose more about it. I hope that my twist with the villagers was not too heartbreaking. It is necessarily for Sakura`s development, I swear. Never apologize for something like this, you are awesome for leaving me reviews whenever you can and feel like it, thank you so much, you are so kind and insightful.

 **hifi** – I thank you for being so on point and always leaving me a review. I am glad that you liked my update. I hope that you did not find this one boring and stale.

 **Analelle** – Thank you, well I could not have done this because well she has her chakra restrained and this was not the point of the story at this point, but I am sure you have already figured this out. Yeah, those villagers are really rash in judging someone, aren`t they?

 **MademoiselleRED –** Thank you for thinking like this. Sometimes I am being told that my descriptions are so detailed to the point they are ridiculous but this is part of my writing style –good or bad. I am glad that you like it, it makes me relieved and encourage me to be better. I confess that I love this pair and the potential they have. They will no worries there. Thank you again for the feedback.

 **guest –** thank you

 **Guest –** well it looks like this, poor Neji.

 **Rui** – I am relieved to know that I managed to make Sakura hold her ground and appear strong and smart. I am not very confident in my depiction of the flow of battles in my stories. Thank you for letting me know.

 **jen1490** – you did, oh my God, I did imagined her like this too having in mind those beautiful female warriors which preserve their grace during their fights, like you said. Thank you. I hope that I did not disappoint you with this update.

Thank you all my readers for reading and following this story, you guys are awesome, I love you all and send you hugs and cookies!

I truly hope that you did not find this chapter cliché, stale, boring, useless and TOO mushy and… pretty much a filler.

Till next time…


	8. Revolution

**::Chapter VIII – Revolution::**

"T-Teme you can't be serious," The blonde`s voice dropped to a resolute octave and this sudden switch in attitude, sliding from the whimsical comic resonance to the one of a serious young ripen man even took Sakura by surprise, who in return found herself curious about what made Naruto so cautious –since he didn't strike as the type of guy to proceed with such circumspection. "we still haven't tested that technique on any enemies, thus we have no idea if it will be successful or not."

"Then this opportunity that we are presented with so conveniently represents the perfect chance to prove its worthiness, won't you agree dobe?"

It was interesting how in the span of a nanosecond, Naruto and Sasuke seemingly traded their places because Sasuke was the one to sound very thrilled at the idea of venturing into a wild guess and assume risks, when normally he was the contemplative one who was always scheming and plotting ahead or based his strategy on a moment of inspiring genius, but now those coal orbs scintillated with an abnormal uncanny bonfire and Sakura immediately depicted the emotion –ambition for _power._

"I never knew that you grew soft Naruto. Weren't you the one _not_ to back away from any challenge?"

Suppressing a devilish smirk in pure victory when Naruto`s tangerine chakra beat the radiance of the solar ring and immediately the indomitable spike in his powerful chakra signature roared back to its vivacious bonfire, Sasuke knew that he hit the right nerve for next thing he knew, Naruto has already summoned back his giant toad and leaped on its back, hollering to the elfin Uchiha in his obstreperous resolute boyish tone.

"What are we waiting for? Let`s go and show 'em what we got, _dattebayou_!

Never sparing a second glance behind to acknowledge anyone else beside his best friend Naruto, Sasuke spoke in unabashed excitement for what was about to come. "Let`s go."

Ah, it was always to appeal to the other people`s weaknesses and penchant for sins that they shouldn't allow to take over ration, the scheming Uchiha mentally deduced because he _so_ knew it all too well that by manipulating the  darkness into the other`s hearts, then they can automatically depict the weaknesses into their inner self and thus take advantage of their vulnerabilities, because the soft spots were always protected by the darkness which worked as a shield against the others` ambitions –to forcibly penetrate inside and take advantage of a caring heart.

So he merely fine-combed a hand through his rebel leather spikes, changing the aura of a composed standoffish silent mature Leader to the one of danger and rebellious handsome bad boy, spinning on his heel and immediately dematerialized from under Sakura`s scrutinizing orb shuffling his form right beside his blonde haired friend, complementing the symbolic image where the two parts of the Universe –Yin and Yang– have twined their limbs and united their hearts into one single complete piece, not sparing her and his other companions any other glance.

Next thing she knew, the giant toad pressed his muscular legs down onto the ground and upshot in a forceful leap, leaving a pile of pulverizing dust and whirling fallen branches on its way creating a mini tornado and Sakura had to brace her hands before her squeezed shut orbs and steady herself on her legs so that she won't fall ungracefully supine.

"Oh?" Sasuke and Naruto left her, Suigetsu and Karin amidst a pile of dust and fallen Lightning shinobi without any other explanation and while Naruto was not obliged to make any conversation albeit he has been nothing but his vibrant energetic and friendly goofy self with her, Sasuke on the other side stunned her again with how stoic and apathetic he could be and didn't even as much as commanded her to stay here and wait for him, while he rushed to rescue the Village from an unexpected threat.

Was it because he didn't care about her in the bit, or was he so arrogant to think that she couldn't do anything to escape or corner him in her current situation, hence his keen supervision was _not_ necessarily?

Uchiha was so laconic, so taciturn and so difficult to read that it made her temples pound and her heart to ache in confusion and swiveling sentiments that sprinkled their kernels into the vault of her chest but failed to leave any missive behind to enlighten her about why was it made her feel empty and hollow.

Since when has this familiar Village started to feel like such an unfriendly and alienated place to her? Like she was not welcomed there anymore, on the contrary, the hard words of the villagers sprinkled unabashedly to her and still resonated in every particle of crystal sand whirling around her in torpid zephyrs and every gust of the mild breeze resonated with their words of rejection.

Suddenly Sakura got a teaser of the taste of bitterness that the rogue shinobi in Sasuke`s group might have experienced from the others who turned their backs on them at some moment in life, before deciding to take their revenge against the ones who failed to acknowledge them.

But unlike them, her beautiful soul was pure as virgin snow and unable of any negative emotion and Sakura loved everyone dearly even though they might misjudge her now, but unlike Naruto for example who has given up the idea of embracing the twilight limbs of revenge and turn against the village because of how they treated him and still keeping that scar into his heart throughout the years, Sakura was genuinely made of only light and love and this was her most powerful weapon to fight against eclipse and crepuscule, while Sasuke entombed the greatest challenge, because his heart was absolutely veiled in darkness.

For a moment, hope gleamed into his decadent heart in forms of fragments of broken pieces of glass of a crystal mirror reflecting bits of his own affectionate feelings –ones that he kept secluded into the deepest abyss of his consciousness ever since his parents died and this is what she wanted to unravel and make him realize that the realm of dreams lied in the future while only memories belonged to the past and not the other way around.

Sasuke was a broken shadow whose reflection shone into the past and yet he failed to exist in the future, but Sakura already embraced her duty to outstretched her sincere hand to him and lead the way to salvation –to _love._

* * *

"Man, I can't believe that those pricks left us behind again," Suigetsu`s comical husky tone snapped Sakura out of her small moment of reflection as her jadeite orbs travelled to the limber form of the tall Suiton user and she fetched an eyebrow up at him resisting the urge to giggle at how definitely comical this man looked like, albeit the aura of insanity and danger lingered to his shadow in a clear thirst for blood. "do you think they will blow half of the Village in half with whatever Jutsu they are going to play with?"

Something in the mocking way he put it didn't sit right with Sakura. She knew that amidst the Kumogakure shinobi there were ones that were legendary strong and among their tumultuous history of powerful shinobi and hidden techniques there must be ones that transcended imagination, but whatever technique Sasuke and Naruto aimed to use as a combination of their two breathtaking abominable chakra types, must be something truly _devastating._

But then again, Sasuke never hid the fact that his scope was not to destroy the Village, on the contrary, up until now, their strategy revolved around the concept of preserving its integrity for as much as they could, fighting at the outskirts and trying to prevent the enemy to traipse and chase them along the streets where they had to do more damage to the houses and the lush markets and Sakura couldn't help but trust the Uchiha`s intuition and the aura of genuine warmth around his Uzumaki friend.

"Shouldn't we go and help?" This is where Sakura became extremely curious about the sudden volteface of Karin`s tone because unlike the times when she addressed her like she was a pest that she wanted to get rid of, using her timbre in a way that only someone who feels cornered and anxious in the presence of someone who represented a reputable _competition_ , the gentle and almost soft inflection of her clear tone was different and openly displaying concerned from her comrades' wellbeing and this is what made her inwardly smile.

Albeit those people were bounded by a strong grudge against the ones who forced them to see the face of pain and mystery, they also cared deeply for each other more than they let it show and this implied gesture of affection and concern made Sakura realize that those people were far more profound than the other regular villains and her concept over good or bad might not have been comprising enough.

This newfound subtle information is the reason why she had enough intuition not to judge them based on their past actions on the contrary, she was taking in every gesture and the smallest mimic which might betray a sentiment, looking closely to how those people interacted with each other and worked together as a Swiss clock that will never miss a beat.

So Sakura silently followed how Karin`s wine grape beautiful orbs were cast into the bleeding horizon following the shadows of Naruto and Sasuke molding within the tinges of crepuscule and speeding at the speed of the _sound_ to the source of conflict, trapped into an ineptitude to provide backup.

Plus, that deep worry that was etched on her softened features betrayed a more profound emotion which was clearly redirected to the Uchiha only, realizing that Karin genuinely had feelings for him because Sasuke and Naruto as an unbeatable duo will definitely come back victoriously and not to mention that the power they had to take on the Leaf Village in less than twenty four hours couldn't have been so weakened by such a derisive battle with the Lightning shinobi.

She wasn't concerned that they will perish in the battle, but because she didn't want Sasuke to be injured. Or maybe the brazen Uzumaki female had special abilities of that Sakura was not aware which might come in handy later on, so naturally the woman had a sharp sense of duty and wanted to be of help.

Sakura silently admired Karin`s determination as a fellow kunoichi, realizing that there were still female warriors which had a praiseworthy fighting spirit and albeit they weren't as versatile as the males in their constant race for the paramount of sheer raw strength and unseen techniques, the kunoichi were the ones entombing the seductive embroidery of delicacy, femineity, grace and strong hearts, mixed with fluid ninja arts and uncanny Jutsus –like the superior special chakra running through the vessels of the Uzumaki females.

"Why would I want to be in the way of those monsters when I can remain here safe and sound and watch the spectacle from the sidelines?"

Suigetsu merely shrugged nonchalantly like he couldn't care less about his fellow comrades, but Sakura knew better than to judge him for his apparently detached behavior.

Yes this rather comical looking athletic man with his famous Sword might have his own fair share of craziness and bipolar tendencies, but she could see it in his inquisitive aquamarine orbs that were slightly narrowed as he too gazed to the Front Gates of the village where all the commotion was enfolding, like calculating, pondering and formulating a plan.

"You`re such a wimp." Karin bluntly interjected much to Suigesu`s amusement who knew exactly what type of things were running fervently through the red haired female`s pretty mind and the mere idea of her dashing in a fit of adoration for the ebony haired Uchiha leader was making him crack and roll on the floor laughing like a madman because God… that woman and her delusional petty feelings for Sasuke, as unreciprocated and illusory as they were now, were pure comedy to him.

"Why blaming me, Karin? At least I am reasonable enough to mind my own business instead of shoving my nose in others business when they clearly don't want me to, like some people I know."

He particularly winked suggestively to the fuming female Uzumaki besides him whose cheeks tinged in the same hue as her exquisite orbs and hair and Sakura found their moment to be quite _cute,_ despite the foul language and excessively violent tendencies, understanding that the people were bonding and accustomed to sharing both success and failures.

"Just admit it that you are a coward, you asshole! I don't want Sasuke on my back because we were needed there while you are dragging us both down."

"How can you put it on _my_ back? I did nothing."

"That's the problem, you moron!" Karin hissed like a venomous Cobra to the still smirking Hozuki bastard for mocking her this blatantly while subtly pointing out to her weak spot for a _certain_ handsome Uchiha male but in reality she knew that Yamato also implied it that they needed medical assistance, and while they had some Ryo nin among their organization, Karin didn't know whether they were still alive and helping or not, so her healing chakra is probably needed on the battlefield.

Suigetsu didn't need to be such a pompous bastard and taunt her for her feelings, but, of course, he has been doing it since they became a group, namely always _intervening_ between Sasuke and her whenever she tried to steal some moments of intimacy with the apathetic Uchiha, like he simply couldn't resist the idea of _tearing_ them apart –he couldn't be _jealous_ now, could he?

The silent Sakura behind them was inwardly wondering the same thing as Karin, taking notice of the spirit of competition that sized and churned into Suigetsu`s blood and she limned more resemblance with Naruto from this point of view; this Suigetsu was a combination between Naruto`s buoyant expressive personality and Sasuke`s dark and savage nature but of course, he was more calculated and cynic than the childish Uzumaki and definitely less elegant than the regal Uchiha and his graceful standoffish attitude, but he had his own fair share of charm.

 _Interesting._

The rose haired astute Priestess suddenly had this curiosity to meet all Sasuke`s acquaintances and see just what type of people were part of his entourage surrounding him, thus get a glimpse into his mind and see what type of characters met his seemingly high standards.

"What type of Jutsu are they going to use?" Sakura found herself asking out of the blue getting the attention of both Karin and suggests and intervening into their bickering.

Both the two Sound shinobi stopped their comical and heated argument and before Karin had the chance to stomp to the annoying fucker and punch him square in the face –again in some sort of a newfound hobby, staring at her with a scoffing glare and totally forgetting that there was still someone left behind since she has been all too absorbed into Sasuke and Naruto`s distant conversation and the shocking news of a powerful shinobi being part of the group of Lightning shinobi who assaulted the Leaf, she found herself spritzing venom to Sakura who annoyed her with her completely serene attitude.

"Why do you care?" Karin didn't use the same presumptuous superior tone from earlier when Sasuke was still around, but she definitely didn't speak as suave as earlier either and immediately a half frown dotted her rather exquisite features, arms crossing upon her well-endowed chest and pushing her hips forward to glare daggers at the petite rosette. "It's not like this is anything of _your_ business."

"Of course, you are right," Sakura on the other hand clearly perceived the nasty vibe of animosity flaring around Karin`s persona and it was all because of that chirruping angelic tone that she used in her conversations, like nothing in the world could make her angry or embitter her and this type of sanguine calmness that only someone as brusque as Sasuke could pull off like second nature was making the red haired woman bridle.

"but judging from the way Sasuke has expressed his resolution and from Naruto`s hesitation it seems to me that this might turn into a complete fiasco and this is interesting to say at least since Sasuke is the type of reserved man who does not like to venture uselessly into unfamiliar waters without studying them beforehand."

Karin fought with all her might to keep her lips parted and not let her jaw drop on the floor with a thud but virtually the motion of stupor and puzzlement had the resonance of a broken plate shattering against the polished floor at the words that sprinkled out of Sakura`s lips with so much confidence, like she has known the Uchiha personally and intimately for a long time, which was clearly not the case here. Such a confidence exuding from a mere prisoner…

"What? Stop talking like you actually _know_ what type of man Sasuke is! You have no right, you are jutting a prisoner! And such an ugly… elf!" She scoffed hardly while Sigetsu was busy gasping and ogling the gorgeous beauty blinking slowly as in not to miss a single heartbeat from the serenity and the wisdom of this Priestess, feeling some sort of a weird voltage discharge along his spine pure tingles of adrenaline. "Stop being a smartass and trying to gain our trust, because we won't help you run away."

Of course that Karin was always careful and albeit she seemed to be up in the sky and lost in an illusion of an implied romance and swinging moods, she wasn't stupid and nor did she lost her touch or that implacable intuition or lower her guard and Sakura also realized that those people weren't stupid, but at the same time Karin was clearly misjudging her solar personality for a sneaky one –something that Hinata was desperately trying to pull off in order to get more familiar with Naruto and escape from the prison, but it was not Sakura`s case, because even though she wanted to release everyone and aid Kakashi and Tsunade into claiming back the village, she still wished to help Sasuke get out of his misery that was conjured by the abyss of darkness inside his heart.

This is the reason why Sakura didn't fathom the idea of escaping him, only escape this concept of being a prisoner and forcing everyone to bent to his command instead of allowing them liberty and freedom to act according to their own democratic beliefs and of course to remain by his side because they had _sentiments_ for him –something that seemed to be Karin`s case.

For a moment, this mere figment of someone being capable of developing such an adoration for Sasuke and be willing to accept _all_ of him with his goods and flaws unconditionally and remain by his side when everyone will treat him as an outcast, was seemingly  romantic to Sakura and, albeit she lacked the concept of intimacy and romantic attachment for someone –something that also came along the way with _sacrifice_ and compromises, loving someone was an inborn gift which she has also been blessed with but unfortunately she, as a Priestess, couldn't be granted that type of affection.

And although this hasn't been a problem to Sakura who has lived like a Sage in complete chastity and isolation for such a long time, now when she has met Sasuke and he nonchalantly traipsed into her temple of purity claiming her first kiss –something that was forbidden for a Priestess, and shared bits of a ghost of intimacy between a man and a woman, something started to _change_ inside her and Sakura didn't know how to react to sentiments without a name that whirled in mini hurricanes inside her chest and crushed any concept about life that she was so sure of until now.

He was irresistible in every sense of the concept and his dominance and penchant for controlling the others and not abide to any rules had something that was only idiosyncratic to the Uchiha, because his dark tendencies and savage extremist opinions were honed by the finesse and grace in his attitude.

Or maybe she hasn't been profound enough to depict his ulterior motives?

"Hmpf," Karin crouched her eyebrows scowling deeply at the rosette who was more and more annoying by the minute snarling at her. "I can't believe that Sasuke took something so ugly to live in the same home as him. Why isn't is he allowing us who are his closest friends to live with him?"

"My my isn't _jealousy_ consuming your heart, Karin?" Suigetsu waited for the appropriate moment to show off his fangs and his obsession with mocking the Uzumaki for her love for Sasuke. "He is obviously choosing her because holy damn this woman is gorgeous. Why would be choosing someone so vapid like YOU instead?"

"What? I am way more interesting and beautiful than this little girl. What does she have to offer to a man like Sasuke?"

"Heh, who knows? Ya` know that Sasuke will never willingly tell us the spiciest details. Guess we have to get him drunk and make him spill it to us." Because they never heard Sasuke ever talk about his taste in women before and this was always such a juicy topic among their organization.

But… that peculiar standoffish attitude and laconic mannerism changed when he was under the influence of alcohol because as composed and level headed that Uchiha was and despite his clarity and lucidity, he was more easygoing and expressive when getting drunk and he opened up a little bit more than before which was according to how he was when sober, it meant that he articulated more than two words to his comrades.

"You have no shame Suigetsu and no self-respect. This is the reason why you are not popular with ladies." Which was half true because the Hozuki brother didn't back away from any parties and he liked to have a good time from time to time along with his fellow comrades which were equally flamboyant, like Kiba or Naruto or Yamato who was secretly a closet pervert and a man who simply couldn't hold his alcohol.

"Heh, no let`s not get dramatic Karin cos we both know that ain`t the case here or…" Oh the way Karin`s figure fell like meteorites crushing on the Earth and her high cheeks tinged with a reddish bridling shade almost made Suigetsu wonder whether he didn't hit the nail in the head or not –which was a scary concept. "maybe you are secretly jealous because of some feelings that you might have for _me_ but you keep on denying it because being infatuated with Sasuke is trendier?"

"You deserve to be chopped off to pieces and feed some white sharks you asshole!" Seeing that Suigetsu simply shrugged with a sudden jerk of his shoulders like he was completely uninterested in the entire conversation seemingly boring till depths, Karin fetched an eyebrow up in confusion and mumbled to his retracting back. "H-Hey where are you going?"

"To the battlefield where else? Weren`t you the one to be genuinely worried about Sasuke and Naruto? Who knows, maybe they truly got their asses wooped by those Kumo shinobi and we must collect their corpses and take care of the funerals."

"What?! No way, my Sasuke will never get killed by such petty fools, what is wrong with your head Suigetsu?!" Sakura didn't follow Karin and Suigetsu because it was not in her place to meddle into their affairs but she remained to linger with her gaze on their shadows which were zooming out of her field of vision, thinking about the sudden feeing that course her spine and clasped her chest.

A hand clasped the fine material over the two folds of the V shaped kimono that cupped her breasts, feeling it clench painfully when Suigetsu threw that dark sadistic joke about Sasuke. Somehow… the mere figment of him being injured brought a feeling of anxiousness percolating against her entire limbs and making her shudder.

An unsettling feeling knotted at the back of her throat preventing oxygen to circulate freely into her lungs, finding it hard to breathe. She was not worried for him and yet… something flickered inside her when the possibility of him being severely hurt has been presented to her. Vaguely her mind drifted to Katsuyu`s miniature clone and her message that the animal must convey to Hatake Kakashi wondering if the Jonin was still alive.

.

.

.

* * *

"I say that this party," First things that the tanned man has mumbled to Sasuke and Naruto when they arrived to the battlefield in a pompous manner landing right before the army of Kumo shinobi, were such lackadaisically ways that almost gave Shikamaru a run for his money. "Is a little bit _dull_."

"You would say that by the number of time he keeps on repeating the same word," Naruto looked at the sturdy looking silvery haired man with a tempered atmosphere about him, arms crossed and having a goofy expression on his whiskered foxy figure, addressing Sasuke who in return didn't even pay attention to what the blonde was muttering. "that is this dudes name."

The Uchiha simply fixed the stranger with a fierce look gleaming of his unfathomable intensity exuding from those beautiful sharp obsidian orbs, calculating and studying his surroundings so as to become familiar with the terrain and strategize about the Jutsus on his arsenal that he might be forced to display against those powerful shinobi, then his obsidian pools flickered back to the calm Kumo leader of those troops –the others were aligned behind him neatly waiting for orders, who in return held his gaze and trying to depict anything inside them with no success; Sasuke was a map of hieroglyphs that no one could decipher no matter how much they tried. "So what are we going to do Teme?"

Something might have coursed through Sasuke`s mind when silently and suddenly his limber frame exuded a blue electric voltage before he artfully and masterfully displayed his flawless change in nature of his Lightning chakra shouting the name of his striking technique that he unleashed to the enemy. "Chidori Nagashi!"

His chakra discharged from his body like fierce rapid mountain streams piercing the ground and rushing to the silvery haired muscular man at a maddening speed and precision but said male seemed totally unfazed and Sasuke who was following him like a hawk expecting the results of his attack to show him the level of power of his enemy and next thing he knew, he waved his own hand sign which not only was it as simple as possible, but completely countered Sasuke`s Chidori with an almost equal chakra nature but having a peculiar shape.

They're hits appeared to be nullifying each other but then a bizarre black lightning technique has been unleashed from the Kumo shinobi`s entwined hands and blazed to Naruto and Sasuke piercing through the Chidori like it was nothing and nearly hitting the duo in the process. They jumped off the Toad scattering in different directions out of the range of that jutsu, with Naruto cursing aloud and Sasuke frowning briefly at the unexpected technique. "Tsk." He clicked on his tongue gritting his teeth in frustration clearly not expecting the Kumo adversary to be this strong.

Naruto stared in awe completely befuddled by the unexpected display of fine Jutsu, whistling low while jogging to Sasuke who was staring motionless at the man with a hand frozen on his Kusanagi blade like debating whether to use it or was it all in vain since the man had a clearly stronger Jutsu than his.

"Wow, who is this guy?" The Uzumaki looked weary at the Kumo shinobi whose attitude was an uncanny combination between Sasuke`s skill and attitude and Shikamaru`s calculating eyes and bored overcome; he simply couldn't resist the urge to shout out at the man addressing him like he always did with every opponent, being his always selfless soul who was naturally and involuntarily seeking for cooperation and forming all sorts of bonds with everyone, no matter the village they were belonging to, their affiliation or their clashing ideologies. "What`s your game? Why are you attacking the Lea?"

Sasuke resisted the need to roll his orbs in exasperation because he was accustomed to Naruto`s approach and he long realized that this was his way of being and not straying from his path and never going back on his word were his Ninja Creed that he was following obediently, so he kept silent and completely void of any gestures which might betray his inner feelings, simply following every move of his opponents so that they won`t catch them with a cheap puerile trick and embarrass them.

The bored man replied evenly without seeming to bear any sort of grudge towards the two of the on the contrary the way he acted exuding as composed attitude and some sort of pacifism about his approach made it seem like they were close friends or distant relatives greeting each other. "Our Raikage`s orders are not to be questioned by me. I am merely following orders and do my job. This is my duty as a shinobi. I am positive that even rogues like you are able to understand this."

"Which means that you are like a chicken without a head!" Naruto outstretched his finger to him accusingly while his boysterous hollerings weren`t matching the calmness of the Kumo ninja but definitely his words and his serious approach were not subpar to the aura of confidence that his opponen exuding so nonchalantly, betraying formidable skills.

And those deetails didn't slip unnoticead by Sasuke`s contemplating gaze, he was always paying attention to subtle details, it was in his Uchiha nature and the Sharingan only enhanced that penchant for always observing and scraping the surface in serch for disclosing what is underneath deception. "Arent you bothered that you are hurting innocent people?"

The Kumo leader with his exotic chocolate tan and gentle reflective eyes fetched an eyebrow up betraying mild surprise upon hearing an enemy be so concerned about something so important and yet so trivial in the world of fugitives and villains and not to mention outré. "Man you are a weird one. Weren't you the ones to attack this Village first? Aren't you a bunch of hypocrites to accuse us of something that you so conveniently did before?"

While the Raikage`s most trusted man Darui from the Lightning Village was quick in surmising about the nature of this bizarre flamboyant golden haired character who seemed not to have a problem in engaging the enemy into a battle of ontologies being all too easy to read, his partner with the rebel ebony hair and aristocratic but hard and stern features was on a whole other level and albeit his powers were still unknown just as Naruto`s, his attitude and the aura he was projecting made him more concerned about him particularly.

It did not take a detective`s eye to realize who that man was because his appearance was as unmistakable as the symbol of a small uchiwa fan etched on his clothes flashing before his opponents` eyes in pure arrogance and pride.

This was the famous rogue Leaf Shinobi and the last savior of one of the most prominent and powerful clans in all the history of the Shinobi –Sasuke _Uchiha._ His eyes were already bleeding that terrible shade of claret blood boiling fervently into the hypnotic pattern of the prime Sharingan and the stare in them, the absolutely piercing reflexion burning Darui`s mind with how intense they were, stood as the embodiment of a demon unleashed among the sinners hunting for their souls.

Uchiha was appearing to listen to his and his partner`s small exchange of retorts apathetically, when in reality he was calculating and plotting with those eyes who looked through the substance of everything and nothing escaped them –not even the light, this much Darui knew and what was also evident was the caution that he had to proceed with when dealing with Uchiha opponents.

Darui mentally smirked while taking in the atmosphere oozing from this onyx eyed male. He was indeed living up to his reputation because while being surrounded by strong enemies, he didn't blindly unleashed to them in a fit of ego burst like his partner did.

No, Sasuke did nothing on a whim and this was obvious, his moves seemed incredibly calculating, he definitely was not the type of shinobi to flaunt his skills uselessly if he didn't have an ulterior motive and most likely he was keeping the most impressive abominable techniques concealed for now, proving to have a battle experience and a lucidity in approaching those sorts of situations which was transcending his still young age.

This man was more mature than his age was and his eyes seemed to be harboring an imbroglio of darkness and hatred than Darui has seen in any other ninja before him. This man… was a shinobi in all the splendor of the notion, this was just obvious from the way he was not breaking any sweat while calmly assessing the situation and reading through their very heartbeats, following and looking for any breach into their approach.

Darui was just as strategizing and assessing like the Uchiha himself, because he was doing the same as Sasuke , understanding that the solar energetic male was the one with inspiriting speech while the raven haired one was the one with the brain.

But… as much as a smart man that the Raikage`s faithful man was, he failed to see how expressive, vivid and seductive Sasuke`s group was and how they worked and organized their strategies was definitely exceeding his expectations, because the real brain behind their machinations was Shikamaru Nara who was not present among them but supervising and lurking from the shadows, and also in their haste to judge the book by its cover, he failed to notice was Naruto's unexpected moments of lucidity and strategic mind and the unexpected raw power surging through his vessels, because the Uzumaki was definitely wiser than the others gave him credit for.

He might not be a brainy strategist like Shikamaru or a scholastic person with a thirst for education and unraveling scientific enigmas like Kabuto, but he was very clever and with an unparalleled ability to pierce into the other peoples` hearts and read into their souls and plus the natural ability to reach to their darkness and understand their pain ultimately being capable of being some sort of salvation, redemption and spiritual mentor –like the Priestess, was a miracle by default.

No one knew that he had the control of the Nine-Tailed Fox because he has learned something valuable from Sasuke namely never display more of his skill than necessarily to the enemy, and thus Naruto was simply in his normal Sannin Mode, not wanting to overuse the Kurama mode uselessly –he learned to be composed of Uchiha himself and albeit his charka was infinite larger pools, it was not what astute shinobi did namely flaunting their skills and wasting chakra in vain.

The key point of being a real shinobi was to master the arts of deception, learn about its shades and the colors of its masks and perform his best in this cornucopia masquerade where everyone was trying to deceive everyone.

"How would you know that it is _us_ the ones who attacked the Leaf?" Sasuke surprisingly spoke up breaking the tensed thick silence which lingered between the two parties like a blinding fog.

Darui smirked to the man`s carefully chosen words being delighted and honored to have the opportunity to take on such impressive shinobi.

"I would say that unexpected assassination of Sarutobi Hiruzen has traveled all over the world and basically the fact that you have disposed of the Hokage and assaulted the Hidden Leaf is on everyone's lips. But then again, I am sure you do not need me to tell you all this. I am sure that you are not as dense as your partner is."

He not so subtly pointed out to Naruto`s extrovert personality much to the blonde`s annoyance whose jaw tensed and his lips downcast in a deep scowl.

"Hey, I am not an idiot!" He protested rather comically and of course that his unserious visage creased by those whiskers and crystalline azurite eyes full of light and gentleness weren't giving him much credibility like Sasuke`s stare alone was capable of freezing grown up men in place and benumb their senses with the sinister aura radiating from his every pore without moving a single finger.

Surprisingly Sasuke`s yielding lush lips fell into a vile wicked smirk. "So the Raikage is either _underestimating_ us if he only sent _you_ and a group of useless baboons to take on us, or he is here with the proposal of a truce or an eventual _compromise_."

Sasuke didn't use the term alliance; enemies didn't make alliances and shockingly enough Darui nodded in agreement to how the Uchiha smartly surmised his purpose there, albeit the cynic tone has not in the bit dissipated from his venomous remark.

"Wow, you are fast to learn. Yeah, something along the lines. The idea was to provoke the one who assassinated the Hokage to show his face and seeing the two of you here makes me assume that you are the leaders of this rebellion and one of us took on him. So who might that person be out of the two of you?" Albeit he had an inkling to bet his money on the sarcastic Uchiha but he kept that hunch to himself.

Sasuke didn't even blink when regarded the man before him with cautioun gleaming into those eyes and his idisincratic annoying defyance and arrogance in the air that made anyone who laid his eyes on him fly off the handle and this is exactly one of the Uchiha`s most valuable asets – the fact that he knew how to respond when provoked and be the embodiment of a statue completely unfazed while his adversary was bubbling of anger before him thus losing lucidity and making silly mistakes, but not this enemy albeit he seemed to feel quite offended and react accordingly by frowning.

"You know who did the aforementioned, but you want to test us and see if we come as honest with you, consequently probe if you can get an alliance with us based on mutual trust." The Uchiha nearly beamed a full sexy side smirk in victory when the way Darui`s orbs involuntarily widened in befuddlement at his smart observation.

He has severely underestimated Uchiha Sasuke and now he was seeing that the man`s brazen and contemptuousness was not only natural but he could effortlessly back that up with his shrewd scheming mind. Damn him.

"Smart aren't we?" _Heh_ , _I couldn't be that stupid now and give Naruto a run for his money, could I?_ Sasuke thought mockingly. His best strategist was not even among them and they both knew that their most intelligent man Shikamaru was a secret weapon, one who could always come up with the best counter strategy and the fact that the genius was probably keeping an eye on them now planning ahead his moves carefully with a wisdom and a maturity worth of a true Nara genius, was something that made Uchiha Sasuke laugh inside like a madman and unleash that unexploited part of insanity inside his dark mind but of course, whatever surged along his mind never reached his standoffish impenetrable visage, only an unfathomable maze created by his still obsidian orbs.

Those deceiving beautiful obsidian eyes…

"So… since you have correctly guessed our intention here, then there is no need for us to beat around the bush any longer," Darui abruptly half turned to his men who were neatly aligned behind him and nodded briefly once in a subtle gesture which was immediately perceived by his men.

Naruto in Sasuke both fetched their eyebrows up seeing that they were lowering their weapons in a clear sign of peace which was the opposite of what the duo had in mind and namely pulverize those fuckers who had the guts to traipse the Leaf uninvited and claim not only its territory but also an implied _amity_ with them.

"Raikage-sama wants you to _join_ us indeed and turn this village into a satellite territory for the Lightning Village, and having the one who killed the Hokage as its supervisor under E-sama`s direct control and in return, we don't crush it entirely up to the foundation."

"What?!" Naruto was fast as lightning in bristling and exploding into a choleric obstreperous fit of rage, not making sure whether he heard the silvery haired male correctly.

Sasuke beside him shown no emotion whatsoever but his response was just obvious when slowly almost agonizingly menacing, the distinctive shade of glowing ruby red whirled hypnotically into the intricate filigree pattern of a star blazing his reputed Mangekyou Sharingan in all its splendor and striking power to the shinobi before him in a clear sign of denying his not so convenient –idiotic, offer.

Like… who the fuck did the Raikage took him for? A wimp? Like Hell will an Uchiha ever bend to _anyone`s_ command, much less to the one who was inferior to them in everything, including tact and intellect. That would be a spit on his Clan`s memory and thus Sasuke was nowhere near considering such an offer to be something more than a humorless joke.

"This is absurd! Who do you guys think you are to boss us around?! We ain't a puppet for anyone, dattebayou!" Naruto spoke Sasuke`s unvoiced words exactly albeit he wasn't so elegant in conveying it to words when the blonde dobe beat him to it and nor will he lose his precious time in conversing to someone so uninteresting.

"Think about it," The male seemed to be irritated by Naruto`s outburst so he let out a prolonged exhale and tried again, speaking in total opposition to how the Uzumaki was bridling and seething in pure rage and this was obvious from the way his aura exuded a leak of Kyuubi`s chakra getting a glow aureate radiance. "you guys have no chance against us. We are superior in number and we can easily call for backup while there is no one to come to back an enemy up. Don't be fools, it makes this entire thing so _dull_ –"

Shockingly it was Sasuke who intervened into his lame speech for the second time and Naruto couldn't help but flinch when he felt _that_ resonance in Sasuke`s general aura, briefly turning around to gaze at his handsome face, finding him cocking his head in a presumptuous defying manner that veiled his terrible eyes which were sensually yet arrogantly spilled into his orbs, but the shadow spanning behind him seemed to possess his very soul at how cold and sinister in resonance it was and this general appearance of his best friend was making burning rivulets of perspiration roll under Naruto`s collar.

He knew exactly what type of inner fever was churning into Sasuke`s vessels and his Uchiha blood was bubbling and boiling in sheer excitement to _crush_ the males before him and Kami might forbids for anyone to stand between him and his ambition.

This was an attitude that was –unfortunately for their enemies, all too familiar to the golden haired Uzumaki whose gulp of oxygen was almost audible. _Uh-oh…_

He has seen _that_ façade of his raven haired friend before and it was never something pleasant. "–how about next time when your _buffer_ of a nitwit of a _Kage_ has something useful to say and waste my time with," Darui, the other Kumo shinobi, Sasuke`s men who were still alive and collecting their fallen forms from where they were lying limp and defeated, and Naruto beside him _all_ had their orbs slightly widened at how maleficent his aura turned in the notch of a nanosecond swerving from his disimpassioned aloof façade to a malicious and power obsessed demon, lurking from the embers of darkness and unleashing his fury among his enemies.

And along with his vote facing in personality came the obvious revolving filigree pattern in his fractal Kaleidoscope orbs slowly bleeding from his normal Sharingan eye to the legendary Mangekyou Sharingan in the clear representation of how he felt _inside_ and his feelings came in a cornucopia of evilness, ambition, determination and this for dominance and demand for the blood of the ones who dared to interfere with him and his dreams.

"then he shall _personally_ come and seek me out that if he is not just a _coward_ who hides in his shell of so called power and let his dogs come and bark in his place."

The insult and sarcasm were twined with the overflow of cynism into his derisive words while Sasuke was clearly ridiculing the Raikage and this brought a frown on the composed figure of Darui, as his comrades were bridling behind him and fuming like furnaces and erupting volcanos and this brought Sasuke much satisfaction.

While he could so easily penetrate their minds and toy with the darkness in their souls, in return they could do nothing to touch him; for someone so, obtuse Sasuke will be forever untouchable and an enigma.

"What did you just say?"

"Are you deaf or simply retarded?" Never removing those entrancing blood infused fractal orbs from the Kumo shinobi, rooting them into their places with a glare so fierce which encompassed all the unspoken feelings of hatred overflowing his vessels, the words expatiated from his smirking lips were entirely coated in cynicism as a clear proof of him ridiculing them and the entire Lightning Village without shame. "Let me put it simply for you guys to understand it better," Sasuke let his Susanoo roar to life and this time the sumptuous form was complete, going straight into his shield warrior mode and skipping past the first stage of his skeleton.

"I don't want to take notice of one single Kumo _rat_ squirming into  my Village without _my_ permission that if… you like your prety heads where they are now."

The sinister smirk that was plastered along his lush masculine lips curled upwards was pure villainous and mischievous and it was quite a scary sight to see such a calculate laconic Uchiha be so excessive with words, but even they could see that this man was not playing games with them nor was he accepting to be _controlled_ and _manipulated_ by the others.

The role of a puppeteer was solely reserved for _him_ and thus Uchiha Sasuke will never be one helpless puppet tied with invisible ropes and played from the shadows by another puppeteer master.

No, that role was reserved for people who liked to be submissive and obsequious like the Priestess and obediently follow ancestral orders without even questioning the validity of their provenience, but that marionette role was not aimed for someone so free in his way of thinking, libertine and headstrong as the stubborn Uchiha heir.

Like hell will the last Uchiha heir stain the memory and reputation of his deceased clan by becoming the dog of someone so horrendous and dumb as the Raikage.

If those ninja were venturing as far as to consider him just a pathetic loser with too much spare time at his disposal in his rage and pathos for revenge, then they had another thing coming.

"I will allow no one to interject into my _ambition,_ " Naruto remained abnormally quiet and serious beside him, basically inhaling every word that rolled out of his smirking lips in that eerie baritone inflection which enhanced the effect of darkness and sick obsession, noting that Sasuke didn't refer to his _dream_ but rather a zeal to surpass his ancestor Uchiha Madara, who failed to create a world of peace like he envisioned it in the past.

"daring to so arrogantly come into _my_ territory and so arrogantly seek for a pathetic alliance which is only convenient to _you_. Don't you _dare_ think that I am an _idiot._ "

Because even though Sasuke didn't possess the level of Shikamaru's intelligence, his intellect was definitely high and shining especially in the battlefield and quick decisions, when times demanded for someone to remain level-headed and in control of his emotions and dictate the course of any battlefield but even so, Sasuke and something more that Shikamaru didn't have except for the obvious Uchiha impulse to fight avidly for their purpose and put an abundant overflow of sentiments and passion into everything they did and that particular trait was making him stand out so much and mold upon the profile of _almost_ the ideal Leader.

Did this man really think that the shinobi who was strong enough to take on the most powerful Kage out of the current ruling in the entire shinobi nations in such a short span of time and who definitely possessed an impressive power unseen so far with the Uchiha lineage granting him the gift of the most powerful Kekke Genkai, will ever accept to be servile to someone else?

Sasuke would rather invade that Village when he summons enough striking force and take on the Raikage by himself and thus make the Lightning village Konoha`s bitch, but never the other way around. How dare they refer to his birthplace and the Village which bored the memory of his beloved family in such a derisive way?

Sasuke`s blood was running haywire entwined with the rush of pure vexation through his system that was infused with adrenaline, malice and fury bristling into his vessels and demanding for him to slice their heads and rip their hearts out of their chests, pack them into gifts and send them back to their Raikage as a response to his demand.

No one demands Uchiha Sasuke to do anything and lives another day to tell the story to its descendants.

* * *

"Have it your way then." Darui exhaled again like in exasperation but in all honesty he never fathomed that the men before him will automatically seek for an alliance even though he never voiced out his suspicion and now that they were clearly rejecting the offer being smarter that they have been given credit for, he can now safely stick to the other order and that was to forcibly take over the Leaf Village and crush this impenetrable tempting fortress now that it missed a protective Leader and surprisingly there were no Leaf Shinobi to come to attack and this made Darui curious.

Were they all dead or imprisoned or somehow waiting to strike from the shadows? This was a mystery to them and for anyone who might entertain the idea of attacking the Leaf now after Sasuke and his people took over.

What was their game? Sasuke`s group had a notorious reputation among the elite criminal organizations and everyone who listed them in their Bingo book new exactly that they only liked to ravage a village and empty it of its precious treasures, but they never stood in a single place for too long, seemingly to only being interested in money, reputation and killing the heads of the regions they transgressed –but they rarely touched the civilians which were odd.

Hell, they even heard hushed rumors about them _protecting_ and even _rescuing_ children and avoid attacking the orphans and homeless or nomads` shelters and this made them so atypical for the regular villains in their blind thirst for ambition because unlike them, Uchiha and his pals seemed to have some sort of decency and _morals_ which was again very odd.

Because usually rogue and assassin shinobi never paid attention for such trivia and their scope was usually dumb and their motives superficial, but it didn't seem the case here and of course that Sasuke was overly aware of the things that churned into Darui`s mind, seeing the wheels inside his brain spin frenetically and trying to decipher his motive.

A smirk in pure contemptuous victory has formed into his mind and mirrored along his lavish lips as Sasuke never tried to hide the fact that he knew that Darui couldn't penetrate his mind and nor decipher his scope and this brought him sheer satisfaction.

Well, good luck with that because there was no human alive to decipher the ambition that was sizzling madly into Sasuke's chest with the exception of Naruto the eternal dobe, but his implied Yang counterpart was having a mysterious power of penetrating the others` consciousnesses and sneak into their souls –that damned dobe.

Must be some sort of power he inherited from his mother seeing that the Uzumaki clan was full of sensitive people with special abilities and outré chakra natures, but no one could be sure since Naruto was quite close to the others and quick in befriending them and talking them into changing their point of views.

"Don't cry your poor eyes out when we are beating your asses to a bloody pulp and take you prisoners to the Lightning Village."

"Same thing to you, only–" This is the moment when Sasuke took one step forward and raised his regal chin into a superior way clearly mocking the snowy-haired man with his brusque attitude and annoying tendency to smirk to them in that arrogant way and spell the same stale word over and over again like a broken tape.

"–we won't be generous enough to let you _alive._ " He wasn't playing games with his enemy and being a rogue for so long thus living upon his own ideologies and rules, Sasuke learned a valuable lesson namely never letting his enemies alive to come and bite him in the ass later on and get the job halfway done.

It was not in his style to be lenient; those were usually his idiotic comrades who seemed to be nurturing a softer side and had those moments of clemency on the other rivals, permitting them to live on but never Sasuke.

When he stroke, he killed in cold blood and without remorse –something that he never did in the past, but mysteriously this type of apparently emollient attitude changed after he fought Itachi and found out the truth about him because up until then, he was showing clear signs of lucidity and humanity and never killed in vain, but after learning how twisted and dominated by ambition the world was, he forgo to the impulse to take justice into his own capable hands and slice through chests without remorse, stepping over his own rules.

This is when he relinquished into the unfathomable abyss of darkness and malice. "Teme," The blonde spoke low and serious, but determination was also visible in his tone which left no room to doubt his thirst for defending the Village, but unlike Sasuke, Naruto was not bubbling with the zeal to murder every single Kumo shinobi before him in one single blow. "what should we do?"

"I plan to use my Amaterasu in combination with your Fuuton: Rasenshuriken." The Uchiha simply stated not even sparing Naruto a single glance, looking at the way Darui was clearly preparing to unleash that bizarre powerful technique but this time there was no muscle pulled on his flawless mien, like he was so convinced that the combined attack of the enemy will never surpass the level of the attack that Naruto and him were capable of creating –one that transcended their imagination by far.

"And how are you going to do that? Our chakra natures can be combined, but–"

Sasuke didn't have the patience to fully explain it to his friend as in why would that attack be successful and they could brand it later on and experiment other variations, sighing, and fine–combing a hand through his disarray midnight locks, interrupted him sternly. "–I will synchronize my chakra to yours by using my Sharingan."

This explained everything and Naruto knew better than to doubt Sasuke, knowing that no matter how insane Sasuke`s plans might sound, the Uchiha was always planning and analyzing everything before surmising what he was assuming and unlike him, he hardly failed.

And even if he didn't trust him not to lose his mind into the thirst for blood from time to time, seeing how deeply arrogant those enemies were and how much they have misjudged him, Naruto trusted the _Sharingan_ –that Jutsu will never betray his perception and his ability to pierce the underneath was unparalleled and this was a fact.

"Ok." He simply stated while he too was intently looking at the enemy in the eye and crossing his fingers in a familiar hand sign of a forbidden technique, muttering. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Immediately three clones popped up in a whirl of smoke standing behind the golden haired Uzumaki.

Darui decided not to give those two men enough time to flaunt whatever insane skills they might possess –considering the fact that they managed to take on the Leaf Village without the help of another Village, thus he was already charging his most famous technique, one that was strong enough to counter Sasuke`s piercing Chidori Stream and this was the reason why the Uchiha refrained from flashing Kirin before his enemies and pulverize them into the blow of an electric storm, simply because there was no logical reason for him to use the same chakra nature as the opponents in a fit of manly ego boost.

Because Sasuke hardly did something in vain and for the heck of brandishing his skills to the enemy, simply because he was hardly excessive or the type of man who ventures into the hurricane of unknown head first without using ration and common sense.

Seeing that the idiot was using his Clones not to divert the attention of the Kumo Shinobi but to mold his chakra and change its nature, his filigree start shaped bleeding orbs narrowed to slits as he snarled to the blonde.

"Why the hell are you using Clones for that Jutsu, dobe?" Knowing it all too well that since Naruto has miraculously and after months of training managed to get the full control over his Nine Tailed Beast` chakra, he was capable of an impeccable chakra control, thus he didn't need clones for his most powerful technique.

And of course, Naruto`s goofy answer in perfect harmony with the whimsical pout was on par with his intellect. "Damn, you`re right! I don't need to do that anymore, dattebayou! I guess the saying old habits die hard is true after all."

Had it been someone else in Uchiha`s place, Sasuke would have slapped his forehead in exacerbation, but he opted to simply grind his teeth together and let his Susanoo envelop both of them like a mantle of purple flames as his orbs immediately shuffled back to the enemy, seeing that Darui was preparing some sort of blinding canon with his lightning chakra nature and it looked quite potent.

"You`re such an idiot." But the dobe could be quite proficient in coming into his senses because next thing Sasuke knew, Naruto had three whirling replicas of giant shurikens sizzling in a blinding whirlpool which created a peculiar metallic sound and immediately they thrust to the enemies going for a tactical side attack, but Darui was equally fast being a proud representative of such a prominent village.

"Laser Circus!" An benumbing stream of striking lights surged from the bolt of lightning spanning from his latched fingers and sprinkling all sorts of directions, seemingly being controlled like intelligent lasers by the user and they went right through Naruto`s clones even before he was ready to unleash his own devastating technique and probe whether it was on par with the Jutsu of the enemy or not.

"Damn, this guys are good!" The blonde was clenching his fists together while taking in the way Darui`s technique unleashed like an electric storm and took everything in his way, shattering the ground and pulverizing his two clones.

"Teme!" Azurite orbs widened as seeing that the Lightning Shinobi was capable of controlling the direction of the lasers spilling from his hands like missives and they both shot to Sasuke and Naruto but the Uchiha never removed his orbs from him.

His Susanoo encompassed Naruto and him in a protective shield taking the peculiar form of a Chinese warrior from the Feudal era growing larger and stronger, while the owner of the technique was focusing his orbs until they bleed because of the over exhaustion, bracing to take the attack full force.

Shimmering lasers collided with the shield of Susanoo in a furious explosion of light, briefly blinding everyone including the Lightning shinobi who were covering their orbs with a hand trying their best not to peel their eyes from the enemy, but seeing normally became impossible, even for Darui who was barely seeing Sasuke and Naruto amidst the lucent of blue lightning.

"What? Impossible!" One of the Kumo shinobi roared the moment when Darui's signature move dissipated completely, clearly not expecting such an impressive showcase from the Uchiha. "He countered it!"

Even though the Susanoo has been peeled off its armor almost entire, the unmistakable devilish humongous skeleton with its defying mocking glowing eyes was definitely still wrapped around the Uchiha and his partner and he actually managed to take the blow fully, albeit from the way Sasuke was having a hand plastered over right eye in a clear sign of expenditure, he realized that it hasn't been an easy task for him to do it, hence his technique became so unstable.

But of course, Darui couldn't have been any more shocked that the ebony haired male really blocked his famous technique and now it became obvious that he was the one to take on Sarutobi Hiruzen, albeit he must have other techniques up his sleeve because this one was too weak in comparison to the former Hokage`s powers, ones that Sasuke was definitely keeping concealed for the moment.

He wasn't stupid at all and his impressive level of keeping his calm and equanimity despite their violent clash was formidable.

"You`re not bad." He shouted to the dark haired survivor of the prodigious Uchiha clan looking at the Mangekyou Sharingan which was blazing in an unabashed frenzy within his fractal irises, noticing that they were spinning hypnotically effulging an incredible energy, one that Darui could feel it even if there was quite a distance between them.

Honestly, he was expecting Sasuke to make good use of the Sharingan`s hypnotic technique namely unleash a powerful Genjutsu on his enemies in a way that only Uchiha Itachi was capable of doing, but so far Sasuke didn't use anything resembling it.

This was his most powerful technique and if Uchiha was capable of countering it without the help of his golden-haired companion then what about both of them combined? "Guys," Darui addressed his Kumo comrades and they immediately took a fighting stance. "We are going to take that weird Jutsu on with a combined attack. Focus on it and pour everything you have."

He was already preparing another shot of his Black Panther devastating technique, being positive that Uchiha wouldn't be able to withstand another round.

At the same time, Naruto has just unleashed his Fuuton: Rasenshuriken to the enemy but they managed to create an impressive Lightning Barrage and even though the heavy blow of the swirling powerful Jutsu would have been enough to take on them entirely, it didn't. "What? How come they are still standing?! I don't get it Sasuke!"

"Just focus your chakra," The Uchiha was not in the bit impressed by the remarkable strength of the Kumo shinobi for he was also updated with the fact that those people possessed indomitable skills and overlooking stamina, thus he didn't delve too much into the depths of their technique, already focusing his Sharingan so that he will strike in resonance to Naruto`s Jutsu, and since they were already accustomed to work together having an implacable remarkable feeling of each other`s chakra resonances which complemented each other, this was something that came to Sasuke as natural.

"I am positive that they will not be able to counter our technique this time, no matter how powerful their barrage is."

Sasuke has seen through their Jutsu with his overanalyzing Sharingan eye and albeit the blows enveloped their orbs in a powerful glowing drape, a Sharingan coated eye could not be easily deceived or completely blinded, thus he has seen it that despite the amazing precision in their chakra nature and sturdy striking abilities, there was no other intelligent trick that they were using.

"I so hope you are right Bastard, otherwise these guys are going to take us down and then take over the Leaf– "

"–No. I will _not_ permit them to lay another finger on _it._ " And the unspoken words that churned into the depths of his mind were also _her_ because of the rage, the fury and the bridling frenzy fogging his judgment at the idea of someone else _touching_ and attacking the Priestess –someone who was not _him,_ was making Sasuke blind by savagery and seethe.

Images of her being surrounded by those fuckers and on the verge of taking a full blow from them, the figment of her being in imminent _danger_ was doing something funny with his system, because his innards were trembling in rage, his stomach was drowning in a hollow feeling of _despair_ and his chest was clasping and refusing to release the intake of oxygen.

Naruto only threw him a side glance understanding that there was no point in doubting Sasuke and seeing as Shikamaru didn't have anything else to convey to them clearly waiting for a lethal final combination, he nodded once dropping the whimsical comical façade and becoming dead serious and more battle mature than normal, and without wasting anymore precious time, he focused his chakra that was glowing brightly around his form like embers of a solar sun shining brighter than a flaming comet, Naruto pushed four chakra limbs up in the sky and immediately a maddening swiveling huge sphere blazing in sheer power appeared as he stared into the widened orbs of his enemy, all the while they were preparing their own techniques.

"Fuuton – Chou Oodama Rasenshuriken!" He shouted the name of the technique that shone in all the splendor of his countless hours of intense training which have been rewarded with a Jutsu so artfully that was as poetic as it was devastating, all the while Sasuke has focused the chakra in both his orbs adding his own distinctive touch to the honed Mangekyou technique.

The Susanoo which once again wrapped in a flaming purple shield spanned an immense black arrow resembling polished chrome and bursting in the same Hell flames of a never ceasing bonfire, focusing his Sharingan eye to match the ration of Naruto`s chakra and shoot the huge arrow right in the direction of the swirling madly screeching Rasenshuriken that Naruto unleashed one moment ago.

"Enton – Susanoo Kagutsuchi!" His technique might need more adjustments as Sasuke became accustomed to this Mangekyou Flame control as it required equally or even higher precision and putting more strain on him since his chakra was not on the same level with Naruto`s immense pools, but it was his genius the one to be capable of molding it so finely and bringing the Amaterasu to its paramount, something that his brother Itachi failed to do.

In fact it was almost symbolic how the brothers` techniques derived from the same Mangekyou Sharingan defined their personalities, because Itachi, who was famous for his amazing intellect and ability to pierce through his opponents` consciousness and depict their vulnerable spot was not surprisingly well versed in casting one of the strongest known genjutsu and aim to their minds, while his younger brother was having a projection of what was the strongest inside him, namely the spirit and the depths of his _passion_ manifesting in the form of molding his spiritual force into taking whatever _form_ he wanted, manipulating black flames and the Susanoo like no other.

Everything from there happened in a slow cadence enhancing the effects of three striking techniques entwining up in the sky because Naruto and Sasuke had enough common sense to direct it to the enemy and as far from the city as possible being on the outskirts of the Village right before the symbolic Front Gates and Darui`s two Black Panthers which roared from his laced hands and aided by a powerful stream of Lightning chakra which enhanced its power coming from his comrades, met in a sparkling effect midways.

The fluid motion of Naruto`s Rasenshuriken that has been met with his Yin counterpart slowly being pierced by Sasuke`s black arrow diffusing and intertwining with his technique in perfect resonance of two matching and complementing chakra natures, strengthened the power of the Amaterasu`s peculiar form, pointing to Darui`s Panthers which were diverted to the two rogue shinobi.

 _The Wind_ was the element that is capable of making the _fire_ stronger and enhance the sublime of its quintessence, and thus their July mixed into a symbolic resonance in the form of a flaming spiral arrow.

A violent explosion burst at the front Gates pulverizing everything around including some of the houses that were closer to that part of the Village and the radius spanned behind the wall that was crushed immediately and blown away the fir trees of the Virgin Forest.

For twenty seconds which spanned like an eternity, the ground shook under their legs in rippling waves resembling a potent earthquake and there was such a metallic deafening screech resonating from the two berserk techniques that almost had Naruto and Sasuke, who were barely keeping themselves drop on their knees, while they were protected by Sasuke`s Susanoo –which was taking all the repercussions and the hard pieces of solid rocks of the pavements crashing into the shield with his hands braced in front of him and his orbs narrowed and blinded by the light and the dark flames which was making it impossible to decipher whatever was going on around.

And since that usage of their combined techniques was something that they have never tried on before, he was unaware of the outcome or how will it react. "Teme, what`s happening? Did we get`em? I can't see anything!"

"I don't know." The blonde Uzumaki spanned his own chakra to add a second shield to Sasuke`s Susanoo, in the peculiar form of Kyuubi`s head and even so the after effects of the shockwaves still affected them, but he realized that by the way his raven haired friend`s jaw was clenched tightly and his teeth were gritting, Sasuke`s chakra was dropping low rapidly and thus he spanned his own solar chakra around his spirit oriented technique and enhanced the strength. It was the thing that saved them from being crushed by boulders which were flying around like meteorites.

And being the mindful shinobi and the compassionate comrade that was his brand and trademark, Naruto paid much need to his fellow rogue comrades and consequently he enveloped them all in a protective bubble made of the chakra that he was masterfully controlling and protected everyone from being crushed by the ricocheting colliding techniques.

Spanning the radius of his Sannin Mode, Naruto was aware of the fact that even the Villagers who were safe and sound in the hideout were feeling that rippling shockwave and they were panicked, and so were the prisoners, Shikamaru and Juugo who were with them in the cells and of course, Suigetsu, Karin and the Priestess who were speeding up to them being stopped midway because of the unexpected blow and probably Karin sensing the amalgamation of powerful chakra, surmising that it might be not such a wise idea to get closer and be caught into the fray and endanger their lives.

"What the–" The first thing that was visible from the pile of ashes, smoke and dust whirling around and dissipating like dark angry clouds floating over the bleeding horizon was a barren land void of any sign of civilization and instead, the land has been ravaged on a vast area stretching like a crevice past the outskirts of the village and sprinkled black flames with a menacing vivid cadence embodying Sasuke`s Amaterasu flames which only he could extinguish.

And they were cremating the fallen bodies of the Kumo shinobi and this was the solid evidence that their technique, not only was it absolutely cataclysmic, but it killed their Kumo enemies up to the last one standing in one single blow and without feeling any pain or agony and in fact, not only Darui`s rather impressive and rare privileged technique was ineffective and totally overwhelmed by the combination of two Yin and Yang counterparts which worked with the precision of a Swiss clock and the execution of two splendid prodigies, but he was no match for such a Godly level of a technique.

They killed all the Kumo shinobi in one single blow like they were worth nothing, only a bunch of disoriented helpless cockroaches.

Azurite orbs blinked several times while Naruto dashed from Sasuke`s Susanoo which he immediately released, feeling his orbs stinging like they were encompassed by his very flames of Amaterasu resisting the need to scream in physical agony due to the overuse of the Mangekyou Sharingan.

He couldn't believe it that they have actually killed those people like this and suddenly something clasped into the vault of Naruto`s chest and there was no reasonable explanation for the guilt creeping within his heart but nor could he cease away.

"Kuso–" It was no use to even get close to those fallen shinobi because he risked to be caught in Sasuke`s Amaterasu and that was something that he couldn't escape since those flames cremated whatever they landed on until it consummated it to nothingness.

"–Teme!" He shouted to the raven haired Uchiha who hasn't moved from that spot and was rather focusing his tired orbs which have reversed back to the beautiful color of onyx sapphires on their surroundings and taking in the _damage_ that the Village sustained and they truly caused quite the mess around.

There were many houses completely erased from the surface of the earth, the paved streets looked like deserted rocky cliffs of a rocky beach and unoccupied and the surrounding protective walls have crumbled like the fortress inside his heart threatened to be shattered by the overwhelming recent events – by _her_ angelic presence and the sincerity in her words.

 _Damn it!_ This is _not_ the purpose of his Jutsu; Sasuke wanted to protect the Leaf from the powerful enemy and make sure that they wouldn't do more damage and in a way he truly defeated it from the Kumo intruders, but the price was the destruction of a lifetime laborious work to build those houses and streets that were now reduced to ashes, dust, and sand.

Where ambition overwhelms the feelings, then only _sand_ will entrap the memories written until the first gust of a wind will carry them away like _unspoken_ words. "We killed them all… up to the last one Teme."

A gust of a chilly wind ruffled through their clothes and fluttered into Naruto`s bristle golden spikes enhancing the sinister decadent atmosphere of the aftermath and somehow, knowing that they have blown away –that they had the capability of creating so much damage, made Naruto`s innards contort in suppressed anger and even he had no idea where was it coming from.

Maybe it was somehow connected to their homecoming after so many years because unlike his raven-haired friend, the seed of retribution wasn't having such deep roots in Uzumaki`s heartwarming pure soul and unlike the many times they have taken down shinobi from other villages, they didn't particularly belong to one of the Five recognized Villages, but rather the scattered regions and nations each with its own leader.

Maybe the concept of being associated to a _Kage_ –the symbol of power and protection and the mentor of an entire generation of aspiring shinobi, inviting the young innings to strive and achieve that position similar to conquering the highest peak, was having a different resonance into him.

Anyhow, the lump that formed into Naruto`s throat was something that pained him beyond belief, his lungs burned for oxygen and yet he couldn't inhale properly.

"Stop acting like a young child Naruto and get your acts together," Unlike him, Sasuke`s leathery stoic voice betrayed no trace of nostalgia or remorse, on the contrary he was quick in checking the status of his comrades and taking in their injuries and asking Yamato`s clone to convey the message that they needed more Ryo Ninja to tend their injuries or even take them to the hospital, hoping that it was still functional.

They had burn marks of a high degree from the surge of electricity but luckily Naruto`s protective chakra has preserved their vitals intact.

"We don't have time for sentimentalisms." He tried to connect to Shikamaru again but this time, the genius was silent and there was no missive coming from him through Yamanaka`s Ninjutsu meaning that the useless woman has already run out of energy.

A prolonged sigh travelled past his yielding lips as Sasuke stood up from where he kneed before one of his most trusted Sound comrades –Kabuto Yakushi, a valuable asset for Orochimaru and someone whose dream to end up just like his mentor has been shattered when Sasuke has defeated the serpent Sannin and thus Kabuto found himself abandoned and forgotten amidst a pile of scattered dreams.

So he followed Sasuke and his group since the Uchiha had absolutely no problem with him experimenting, albeit he absolutely snarled and threatened Kabuto not to use civilians for his sick experiments, ones that he inherited from Orochimaru and simply focus on his academic hobbies and honing his medical skills.

Hell might unleash over him if he went as far as to use _children_ for experiments like Orochimaru did. Sasuke only left the warning to linger in the air and they both knew what he was capable of when pissed off, after all, the Uchiha were still the descendants of the _darkness_. So he reluctantly complied.

And now said a male was cringing and self-curing a rather deep cut on his abdomen with his glowing bright emerald chakra, spitting blood.

With an arrogant side smirk, he assured the Uchiha that he won't die so easily so he should focus on the others who required immediate attention.

What was that dobe doing anyway? "Naruto." He beckoned his rooted in place comrade who seemed to have been frozen in a dumb stance with his back on him and Sasuke would admit it that the way the sun was falling behind the mountains and spilled those claret shimmering rays ricocheting from Naruto`s spanning shadow was giving him an intense aura of notoriety.

He fought the urge to roll his obsidian orbs and reveal his exasperation. Now it was definitely not the time to be flaunting mawkishness.

"This is not right Teme," The blonde dobe murmured rather softly but Sasuke heard him anyways and since he was still addressing him by their peculiar appellative, it only meant that the blonde was melancholic and self-blaming himself for something that Sasuke understood but still branded as stupid. "those people were simply following _orders._ They shouldn't have died like this."

"No one forced them to obey their Kage`s commands so I can't fathom why is this concerning _you._ " He knew about Naruto`s viewpoint over using violence against words and he knew it that the blonde had the etiquette of a silent **hero** glued on his trimmed conscience, thus he had this impulse to outstretch his hand to every soul who seemed to be wandering through a anything without escape and be the light at the end of the tunnel and be it enemy or a comrade, he just had to _befriend_ and _unite_ everyone under his protective umbrella and this selfless complex absolutely pissed the Uchiha off.

"Like Hell it doesn't!" Surprisingly the idiot whirled around with his ultramarine orbs shining with a determination that was not idiosyncratic to Naruto and when he exuded it, it came out as pretty impressive but of course, the Uchiha was the embodiment of a cold stone betraying nothing on what he was inwardly deducing. "What type of message do we want to convey to the other Nations?"

"That they should know better than to mess up with _us_?"

"I am sick of being branded as a rogue criminal without moral values and no dreams of the future except for the penchant for destruction."

"Hn." The Uchiha fetched a perfect raven eyebrow up as Naruto passed him one breath away from his shoulder and headed back to the Village leaving Sasuke to stare into the horizon and see the result of their technique but unlike him, Sasuke had more self-control and his cold judgment didn't go as far as to relinquish into such a sweet dream of naivety about peace and cooperation.

Yes, he knew that by whipping out the entire platoon sent by the Raikage in one single blow and leaving not a single soul alive has just won him a strong enemy in the form of a rather powerful village –Kumogakure no Sato, but he couldn't be bothered about what the Raikage was thinking about him.

If they wouldn't have stopped the Lightning shinobi from traipsing into the Village and claiming it as a satellite for Kumogakure, then the Leaf Shinobi would have been forced to either reach a truce or withdraw and forgo, but the result would have been the same.

Sasuke and his group of missing nins weren't the ones to start the fray, on the contrary, it was the Raikage the one to march into the Village and fight them and this was qualifying as self-defense because let's face it, since no sane person would have estimated that any decent Village would accept to become another Village`s bitch without putting up a prideful fight for honor and thus the Lightning bastards came with the clear intent to conquer it.

What truly puzzled Sasuke was the reason why the Raikage still held back from sending his best men and even though that fellow with the Black Panther technique was pretty impressive, it still wasn't enough to take on the Leaf alone no matter what the damage caused by the enemy was and the Uchiha`s mind only reached two surmises, namely it was either the Raikage was blatantly underestimating Uchiha's striking power or considered him weakened and on the verge of death from such a bloody fight with the notorious legendary Hiruzen Sarutobi, or they weren't expecting them to still remain into the Leaf after ravaging it and this was in his major advantage –because usually Sasuke and his group didn't linger in one place, rather than travelling like nomads and constantly changing bases and this was one of the reasons why they were so difficult to locate.

Until now when they were finally… _home._ Naruto is still a naïve fool and no matter how pure his feelings were and the simplicity in his ontology about how he wanted to accomplish his dream of unity was both laughable and honorable.

There were two bonfires burning into Sasuke`s mind regarding Naruto`s Creed and his Nindo and for the both of them, the Uchiha respected and slightly _envied_ the courage of his friend to venture into such a convoluted realm of dreams –his vulnerability for exposing his weakness in front of the enemy who might exploit it and the strength to _never_ _give up_ on what he truly believed in, including bonds and friendship.

And for all the things that Naruto couldn't be –namely a dispassionate realistic lucid Leader, then Sasuke was there and ready to flaunt the Cimmerian shade of a _Kage_ and support him, even if their beliefs didn't match entirely –in fact, they were perfect  antagonists but inseparable faces of the same coin.

Two **masks** belonging to the same _face_ –the face of a Leader.

Narrowing his now charcoal tinted beautiful orbs as he threw one last peek around to assess the damage done and strategize ahead thinking about the fastest way to rebuilt what has been damaged from the foundation and prove it to the villagers that they aren't here with the purpose of destruction in their minds, Sasuke swiveled on his heel being swift as a black puma and padded to the Uzumaki, who was helping one of their comrades up, while the others were thanking him for protecting them with his Kyuubi`s chakra from the attack, speaking in that emotionless apathetic velvety way that made Naruto see red, giving nothing away of what he was feeling or if he was feeling anything else than a vapid penchant for revenge and even that was suppressed to the minimum. "What do you want to do?"

He knew that a form of guilt which Sasuke will never ever deem as necessary so consequently it will never churn into his chest, was overflowing Naruto in that moment and this is why he asked him in a rather cryptic way so that he won't make it obvious in front of their group of missing Nin that the Uzumaki harbored such a lenient heart, but the azurite eyed extrovert male couldn't keep it away from the always keen Sasuke.

"I am heading to the Hokage Mountain and then go to see the prisoners." What he had in mind was a specific _Hyūga_ prisoner and ever since he has drowned into those moony orbs bathed in shimmering tears and a flicker of hate for them, Naruto lost the taste in his mouth and the ability to depict colors, which was stupid since he has only met the woman but _damn_ … that Hinata entombed everything that Naruto lost albeit he never had _it,_ but his heart wasn't deceiving him.

Yes, he felt reprehensible and liable beyond words and that woman with a purity glowing brighter than virgin snow was his _salvation._

He felt helpless like a decaying sinner knocking on the Gates of Retribution and she was the guardian angel who had his fate in the palm of her mercy hands.

Of course, Uchiha besides him knew _exactly_ what his intentions were deducing them from his rather laconic line alone and this is the reason why he only lowered his lush raven lashes once in a torpid blink and refrained from displaying anything more revealing, being his usual detached and stoic self.

Throwing one last glance around, Sasuke decided that his word was only needed for his most brilliant man to instruct him on how should they be of help to the villagers and then he could go home and clear his mind from all this tangled mess that was starting to cloud his lucidity –a state of mind that was antithetical to his impassioned and balanced self.

"Go ahead," the Uchiha simply walked off the battle scene leaving everyone to stare at his retracting back but he couldn't help himself while inwardly mock Naruto for what he was precise that the blonde idiot will do in the moment when he finds himself in the core of a scared confused crowd of easy to manipulate villagers. "I am not the type of man to deliver a _motivational_ speech."

Naruto, on the other hand, was more profound than this and pierced underneath Uchiha`s implied deception because he knew it as the sky was blue that Sasuke was the type of shinobi to strike and protect something he held valuable from the crepuscule and not flaunt his ardent desire to unabashedly show affection _in public._

But… it didn't mean that he _didn't_ care because he did in his own twisted and terse way. "Are you leaving?" Aureate eyebrows fetched up in surprise seeing Sasuke`s shadow span along the crumbled pavements and sinking further into the deserted streets of the village.

"This is me moving, right?" He could sense the sarcasm in his voice because it was not in Sasuke`s style to crack a joke like that and especially not in the presence of their men.

Kabuto beside Naruto –who has just finished healing himself using his fine Medical Ninjutsu skills, was quiet and refrained from any sort of comment, finding Sasuke`s attitude a little bit _too_ occult even for him.

Something was troubling him but he couldn't put his finger on it because honestly, he has never seen such a seemingly detachment in Sasuke`s behavior or rather… he hasn't seen him so absorbed and troubled by something to make him react this way.

"Teme–" Naruto`s softened azurite gemstones remained latched to Sasuke's shadow as the sun set right upon the Uchina District in a fine glowing majestic line enveloping the surroundings and the outskirts of the Leaf Village in a fantastic maze of claret red and tangerine, noticing absentmindedly that Sasuke had to traipse through the entire Village to reach his old home and this was somehow… symbolic –to return to his place of birth, he had to pass through every route that led to the Uchiha`s estrangement and reflect upon that estrangement, discrimination and alienation which ultimately bloomed into a hatred without turning back.

Something fugitive made him eschew his orbs from Sasuke`s fluttering raven locks and pay attention to a tiny gust of wind washing through his clothes and a twinkling light followed like a firefly into the forest and glowing along the sinuous paths and that made Naruto blink for several times and scoff in that whimsical comical figure of his trying his best to alleviate that phantom and make sure that his mind was not playing tricks on him because his mind immediately averted to _her –_ something that only a Priestess would be capable of creating in some sort of mysterious resonance that she had with _Sasuke._

Like she was adjuring him to follow her presence by sending Delphic subtle messages for him to follow and he was pulled to her obediently following and in all honesty, Naruto genuinely wished for the Priestess to somehow cast a spell on his friend or play some magic trick on him and pull him out of the misery that was drowning him and do something that no one before her was capable of –make him _attach_ to someone in that _romantic_ way that only a very special despite _her_ could. "Will she really be able to–"

* * *

"–There they are! _Oi,_ Naruto!" Karin, Suigetsu, and Yamato dashed from a dusty street jogging to the blonde and their comrades, while their orbs traveled all sorts of directions like gyroscopes taking in the mess created by whatever monstrous battle has enfolded there moments ago.

"Wow, you really blew their asses away, didn't ya`?" Suigetsu whistled low on his chest stopping right beside the Uzumaki, while Karin run to the injured comrades to provide medical help and Yamato sweat dropped at the proofs of the violent battle that has caused such an immense damage, mentally trying to depict just what type of technique could have caused this.

Of course, after he made sure that the Villagers were safe into the hideout and guarded by one of Orochimaru`s most trusted underlings and one of his four guardians _Jirōbō_ , who Sasuke left alive because of his power and the composed and stoic demeanor, crushing the rest of his friends and because of his powerful Earth affiliations Yamato entrusted him with protecting the civilians, because there is no way that any Kumo shinobi who might have miraculously escaped Naruto and Sasuke would be able to take on his Jonin level abilities.

"We confirmed that some fuckers who weren't present in your radius have made a run for it after that last blow of yours and they are probably scurrying back to Kumo. Those fuckers."

Suigetsu stated monotonously albeit there was some sort of disappointment into the tone of his voice probably because he didn't have the opportunity to brandish his talents and slaughter those shinobi all by himself.

That rivalry attitude and the constant need to compete with Sasuke was not only creating funny bickering for the rest of the audience but it sometimes created dissensions between them and made the Hozuki nin more rush and inattentive, albeit it was only for a moment before he quickly composed himself and proved to be smarter than people gave him credit for, this time being no exception.

He, Naruto and Kiba was _all_ engaged in a silent rivalry with the Uchiha much to Sasuke`s annoyance because of _God_ … they were so annoying and obstreperous, especially when they acted _together._

"What is Sasuke _–_ kun thinking," Kabuto pushed his glasses that slide along the bridge of his nose back in place as he dusted off his ripped clothes, looking into the distance. "Shouldn't we follow them and kill them all before they get back into their Village and report everything that happened here to the Raikage?"

"Dude," Suigetsu deadpanned at the fellow Sound colleague resisting the urge to laugh his head out loud, instead opting to only titter and flash him his sharky canine like they were at Disney world having fun instead of being in a battlefield with dead corpses burning in black flames all around them creating an insupportable stench of putrid cremated flesh and bones. "stop calling him Sasuke _–_ _kun_ _,_ you sound like Orochimaru _–_ sama and it`s creepy as fuck."

"Stop calling him Orochimaru _–sama_ andthen and I will stop." Kabuto smartly shot back to Suigetsu but instead of making him scowl or frown, the silvery lavender haired playful male only smirked wider to him because he managed to point out at Kabuto`s tendencies to copy his former leader and this was worse than Yakushi taunting him about the implied respect that Suigetsu harbored for the Serpent Sannin, albeit they all knew that Suigetsu only evoked his name adding the 'sama' suffix out of mockery and not of genuine honor.

Naruto simply shrugged with a brisk jerk of his shoulders crossing his hands behind his nape and suddenly feeling like a little carefree kid back in the Leaf Village when he used to pull out cheap pranks to attract the attention of the others to him in a desperate manifestation of his inner hurt self-trying to relate to the and be _acknowledged_ and _accepted._

This is the reason why he liked the atmosphere in their apparently gloomy organization of notorious rogue shinobi, because it was sprinkled with different types of characters who were constantly bickering and not be afraid to show that they were crazy as hell, sadistic and eccentric.

"Frankly… I have no idea of what is going on into the Bastard`s head and nor am I in the mood to beat the heck out of him and find out," Those words entombed the half of the truth because Naruto had a hunch about what troubled Sasuke but he kept it wisely to himself for the moment. "but whatever it is… I am sure that he already passed the order to Shikamaru. As for those Kumo shinobi who managed to escape us, don't ya guys worry because of them–"

There was some sort of relief into his voice one that didn't pass unnoticed by the keen eye of Kabuto and Karin albeit the others failed to see it. "–because they will only advertise for us and shout it out to the world that the Hidden Leaf is _not_ vulnerable because of the loss of the Third Hokage on the contrary, they should stay the heck out of it otherwise–"

This is where Naruto pumped a fist up in the air like a total diva winning the Miss Universe contest and hollered at the top of his lungs with a huge grin plastered all over his whiskered figure. "–we are going to kick some asses and slap them into the next century, dattebayou!"

"Hopeless…" Kabuto mumbled under his breath shaking his head albeit there was a ghost of a smile playing on his lips upon seeing the absurdity of the situation before him, turning the look to Karin who has just rolled up the sleeve of her blouse and offered a hand to one of their comrades.

Suigetsu burst out laughing at the dumb face of the Uzumaki who was in total contrast of how he acted moments ago and the impressive oasis of power lying dormant into his body.

"Dude, ever since Sasuke proclaimed that _you_ shall be the next Hokage, I seriously started to ask myself whether our stoic bastard of a leader is either constantly drunk or high as fuck of some shit or simply crazy as hell."

"Oi… was that an insult you asshole?!" The blonde flailed a fist in the direction of his Suiton user counterpart which only made said male lay against his gargantuan sword that has regenerated because of the blood of the Kumo shinobi he managed to slice and titter rudely at the blonde.

"My point exactly."

"Jerk! Let`s go, _minna!_ There is no point in loitering around anymore. It`s getting dark and this place gives me chills."

"Who's gonna clean this mess?" Suigetsu addressed to no one in particular throwing one last glance around and whistling low on his chest at the decrepit vista of the surroundings and suddenly he grew very curious about what type of Jutsu and at what scale might be potent enough to blow up the Gates, the pavements, and the houses and encompass the surrounding huge thick concrete fence like it was domino pieces in the wind and some of the lush virgin forests that elongated along the way out of the Village.

"Us!"

Suigetsu exhaled in total exhaustion quaffing from his bottle of water to rehydrate his cells that felt like deliquesce into the ground, trailing after the rushed group mumbling under his breath after hearing Naruto`s blunt confession.

"Fucking great… making _us_ do all the dirty work while _he_ is idling in his fancy house and getting _cozy_ with his hot prisoner… damn annoying prick…" He knew it all too well that Sasuke`s behest will sway along the lines of _'go help the_ _civilians_ _rebuilt the village'_ in his sudden conniption of nobility and humanity.

He liked the Uchiha better when he was dark and ruthless and took on Orochimaru. Nothing will match _that_ malicious look in his eyes and albeit it was undeniable that his glare was still something that was capable of making blood freeze down his vessels, it was equally true that ever since he has been enlightened with the truth about his brother, something in Uchiha`s disposition _changed._ Of course it sadly didn't affect his penchant for giving other people _orders._

"You are always complaining about something Suigetsu and you are the laziest out there buddy," Naruto pivoted on his heel with those naughty spikes fluttering in the wind which washed past them creating mini tornados of sand whirling around the place right after Sasuke`s Amaterasu flames extinguished in a clear result of consuming everything and leaving nothing behind, turning everything into _nothingness_ _._ "Yamato _–_ _taicho_ _,_ take me to the hideout `cos I wanna see the villagers."

"Hai. Follow me, I have found a secret faster route to the Hokage Mountain."

"I hope it doesn't end in a damn _fence_ like the first time you took us there." Karin snarled to the Wood Release user who gave her a sheepish smile in return, apologetically rubbing his nape in a peculiar manner of displaying remorse.

A firm yet gentle calloused hand coiled around Karin`s nude arm stopping her from letting teeth sunk into her trimmed skin which was tattooed with denture marks all over it. Wine orbs skimmed to Naruto`s azurite ones as they shone in discombobulation. "What the heck _–"_

"–stop doing that." Naruto interjected sternly being visibly outraged by the prospect of her allowing those people to _bit_ from sensitive flesh and nourish from her chakra and heal themselves.

"You are not one of that Snake freak`s test subjects anymore. You don't need to do something so disgusting ever again." Not even allowing her to mumble something to him through those dazed widened orbs, Naruto tucked on her arm and pulled Karin up to almost collide with his chest and waited until the woman steadied herself on her feet.

Fighting a dazed blush to creep along her cheeks, Karin yanked her hand from the Uzumaki`s and rolled her sleeve down to conceal those marks that brought her so much shame and triggered unwanted memories, coughed awkwardly once and shied away from him, faking that she felt offended but it did not fool him. "I _–_ I am doing it out of… camaraderie." _Like Hell she did it_ , Naruto added mentally.

The irony still stood at its finest symbolizing Destiny`s merciless derisive dark sense of humor because even though they were not Orochimaru`s prisoners anymore, their minds were still entrapped into an invisible prison with no chance of finding their liberty again –at least, not mental liberty for their were physically capable of wandering around unrestrained.

"Stop doing it altogether for whatever the reason you have. You are a smart woman Karin so use that in _your_ advantage." The blonde`s tone was surprisingly stern and wise almost resembling Sasuke`s commanding one or Shikamaru`s, albeit it had his own idiosyncratic inflection.

"Isn't this the reason why you joined us?" Then as abruptly as his personality voletaced stopping her from curing that man, his semi frown metamorphosed into a huge grin as he spoke in that annoying boisterous energetic manner.

"To be controlled by no one and be your own master. No one is judging you here because we are your _friends_." And walked away as Kabuto took her place and placed a glowing bright jade palm upon that shinobi`s chest easing his pain until they decided to take them to the hospital or summon for the other four Ryo ninja that he personally picked on their journey through the Shinobi Villages and honed their skills under his tutelage, throwing curious glances at the odd pair.

Naruto was among those few ones who knew about Karin`s pathetic past and thus he long decided that no one amidst their organization will be treated otherwise than equals, partners, and comrades.

He knew that it was ebbed into Karin`s mind since she has been a young child to cure those man and let her body be abused in such a revolting way and Naruto knew it better that this was the only way she knew to play homage to her deceased mother so he didn't judge her for that, but it didn't matter that he had to let her do something so horrible again for the sake of clinging to a forgotten memory of the past.

The future was a right affront and not _behind_ her and letting go of those nightmares and demons from the past –which were powerless before the light of the future and future dreams, as something that not only Karin was fighting with, but Uchiha Sasuke too.

And this was something that Naruto was adamant to change and help his comrades with, starting with the red-haired fellow Uzumaki distant relative.

"Bah, you letting the others bite you because you want to be of help is a fatass lie Karin," even though he could relate to her in terms of a fucked up childhood, it didn't mean that Suigetsu would let the opportunity to play his favorite mind game with Karin slip through his fingers so he dragged his lazy ass beside the flushed female and cackled to her. "we all know that you do that to impress a certaindark haired hottie of our Leade _–"_

"–finish that sentence Suigetsu and it will be the exact line that I am going to write on your gravestone, you pompous nitwit!" She growled in complete consternation as her face tinged in the same shade as her orbs and hair much to the Hozuki`s amusement.

Oh, how easy was it to rub it in her face that Sasuke will never acknowledge nor return her feelings or… maybe he _will_ and add to his amusement.

"Man, why are we heading to the hideout again?" It was almost amusing how such a notorious group of the rogue ninjas scattered around the Ninja world and led by no other than the last Uchiha survivor were anything but resembling his stoic attitude, on the contrary, it was sprinkled with energetic nins like Suigetsu and Naruto and thus the Water style used couldn't keep his mouth shut, especially when there was good blackmail material at his disposal.

"There is no hotter chick there than the little Priestess that Sasuke keeps as his personal _slave_ , so why bother? Though I do admit that there might be some really good looking girl–"

"–will you stop talking about that whore already?" He easily avoided a flying punch aimed to his tittering figure coming by a fuming Karin.

"It's already getting so annoying!" Naruto burst to out laughing at the way she referred to Sakura by 'borrowing' one of Sasuke`s favorite lines like an original stalker and albeit she avidly denied being one, she was right there on the top of fangirls chanting for the Uchiha.

"Why, you jealous? I would be if I were in _your_ place and thankfully that I am not… I mean… that woman is so stunning and it`s not like Sasuke has ever given _you_ attention even if you are MADLY in love with hi–"

This time, Karin did not miss his figure making him splash around in million bubbles while Kabuto and Naruto smartly took two steps backwards avoiding being drenched, albeit following their small argument and while the Yakushi prodigy merely stared at the two odd partners, Naruto was openly laughing his ass out loud at them, while Yamato sweat dropped and visibly picked up his pace so to get to the hideout faster and not mingle into a lovers quarrel especially with that trio on his tail.

"I wouldn`t mind giving that little Priestess that time of her life if she asks me to and besides," Suigetsu shrugged indifferently and that was buzzard since his head didn't liquefy properly making him look like escaped from a book with zombie. "we all know that Sasuke isn`t quite into... _women_ per se."

Although they all knew that the piece of gossip was merely a foamy joke about Sasuke and his stuck up detached attitude in general and far from the truth, it did not stop them to throw steamy assumptions about him and his supposed sexual tendencies, because seeing Sasuke trying his best not to snap aloud at those fools who kept on spreading false rumors about him was priceless.

Of course that his faithful admirer will always take his side no matter what and maybe the fact that his supposed to be a proclivity for the same sex has caused a hurricane of groans and complaints from the women and so Karin immediately backfired and showed her fangs to Suigetsu.

"Where do you get those stupid ideas from? My Sasuke is a _real_ man mind telling you. Not much that I can say about the tree of you."

She pointed her finger to him, Naruto _and_ Kabuto who seemed to be developing a worrisome attachment to his former mentor Orochimaru and not a healthy one so he was also someone with a question mark hanging above his smart head but of course he was not such a main attraction like Uchiha.

A choir of _'hey'_ rung from the offended males all the three of them defending their masculine ego, while it was Karin`s turn to snicker at them in the pure victory. Served them right for even entertaining the idea of insulting Sasuke in her presence.

Albeit… the edginess and the disconcerting perception simmering inside her chest still bubbled remembering the ambiance effervescing between Sasuke and the Priestess when they reached the Uchiha`s location and her womanly intuition sent unsettling feelings down her alertness.

And she didn't even know the reason why.

.

.

.

* * *

Sweat was percolating along the cords of his feverish neck in rolls of burning droplets, meandering along the crests of his chiseled chest, while his uneven inhales came in laborious sharp inhales and deep short exhales.

The skin of his yielding lips was rough and dry and of an unhealthy purple tinge while they were murmuring a weak plea for the taste of water.

His olive overtired orbs fluttered open and sought for the other occupant of the cold cave that was carved deep into the Mountains where no one would manage to find them.

"M-Mizu–" The soft whisper reached the ears of the shadow that rushed to him carrying a bamboo step full of fresh crystalline water that has been collected from the ponds formed by the glacial pure waters streaming down the peaks, approaching the suffering man and hunching beside the improvised tatami, slipping a hand carefully behind his damp nape and brushing the bamboo against his parted lips helping him drink the contents.

"Here, take it easy Kakashi, the poison is still spreading through your body despite my efforts to extract it entirely," It was so rare to hear Anko Mitarashi`s husky timbre drop to such a mellifluent zephyr as she gently informed the overtired Jonin about his condition while following how his Adam Apple was bobbling up and down as liquid filled his system. "but even so, you will make it out alive thanks to the antidote that I have concocted combined with my chakra that I have shared with you."

And since Anko was conveniently resistant to the most common poisons since she has once been Orochimaru`s favorite protégée, she didn't hesitate into sharing some of it with Kakashi thus saving his life.

Her skills were nowhere near astounding as Tsunade`s when it came to fabricating potions and counter poisons, but even so, whoever managed to land such a tricky blow on the Sharingan user must have used something _familiar_ that she had the knowledge of, but that fortuitous fact was only because those were shinobi of the Sound –Orochimaru`s former underlings, and the Herbs that were required for the antidote grew conveniently close to where they were currently residing and trying to collect their strength and make it out unharmed.

"A–Arigat–ou, Anko." Kakashi lied supine against the expedient bed relishing in the invigorating feeling of fresh water filling his cells as he was alarmingly injured and chakra depleted, but that was to be expected since the adversaries he encountered were all formidable Shinobi, who in a whole other context would have been an honor to fight against.

He had no idea about who has miraculously come out alive from that violent battle but he was glad that at least Anko has been close enough to where he was being overwhelmed by his opponents and using skills that were handpicked from Orochimaru`s arsenal, she managed to get them both out of that battlefield and shamefully abandon the Village when their skills proved to be subpar to the one of those bloodthirsty first-class rogue shinobi and they had to regroup in another place in order to strategize anew and come back with more striking power to reclaim their Village back from the enemy, but clearly not in _this_ moment when they were scattered and barely alive.

Kakashi thanked his lucky star for shining brighter than in any other moment of his life for making it out alive from the assault of those who took on Sarutobi Hiruzen – a heartbreaking information that he still couldn't fully grasp nor fathom but this only lets him get a glimpse over the astonishing prodigies they were fighting against.

Uzumaki, Nara, Inuzuka and not to forget _Uchiha_ were all homespun family names of clans belonging to the Leaf Village and now the new generation decided to riot against their traditions in a virtual symbolic revolution played the strings of the Village`s fate in a symbolic cruel déjà vu, which started from the curse of their ancestors and reverberated into their time.

Kakashi knew those men from when they were buoyant arrogant genins in search for a purpose in life, but he would have never envisioned their Destinies to be so antagonist to how they would have turned out to be if not for the kernel of darkness to claim their hearts.

And now a dedicated gentle heart like Kakashi`s –who was cheering for the new generation to _change_ the face of the Village and transform it into something more prominent and proudly face the _future_ , had to brand them as enemies who he was supposed to raise his kunai against and _kill_ them for the sake of the Village.

Uchiha Curse… was once again wrapping its never-ending web and once again there was _no one_ who seemed to come in between and end this feud once and for all.

"A-Any news f-from… the others?" Kakashi absolutely abhorred the way his inflection came as weak and lacking the normally composed softness mixed with the lucidity and confidence when he addressed Anko, who was complete out of her flamboyant excessive mannerism but then again, she withstood severe injuries and not even she could joke and flaunt her assets in such an alarming situation. They were not one hundred percent safe in here as long as they were still in the range of the Leaf Village.

The flamboyant woman who was hunched over a bowl of steaming makeshift soup that she improvised using roots and mushrooms that grew spontaneously in the vicinity of their new 'residence' shook her head slowly with a visible sadness in her naughty orbs. "I am afraid no. So far, there is no one who has tried to contact us and albeit I know that they might be equally severely injured, I am afraid that we might be among the few survivors of the battle."

That was a horrifying concept that Kakashi refused to embrace and so did Anko but she couldn't help her forward nature.

It was after all a logical conclusion that the silvery snowy-haired Jonin also acknowledged albeit not accepted. "W-We must… never lose _faith_ Anko."

Those were missives ricocheting straight from the honorable memory of the Third Hokage himself and albeit he was physically only a memory in the wind now that he died, his wisdom and the Will of the Fire continued to sizzle in strong flames into every inhabitant of the Village.

"Heh, I wish I was as hopelessly optimistic as you my dear fellow com– "

PUF!

"–Kakashi-san! Anko-san! I have urgent news to deliver!" Two pairs of befuddled orbs gasped at the short lush gray smoke whirling around an all too familiar sticky creature with a gentle face and a light soprano voice which most likely used a Teleportation Jutsu to locate them.

"Katsuyu-sama?!" One logical question immediately aroused in Kakashi and Anko`s astute minds namely was it _Tsunade-sama_ the one to have conjured her peculiar Summoning Animal and send it to them after she has been updated with the atrocity that has happened in the Leaf –as most likely all the other Villages have found out about it, even if the Legendary Kunoichi hasn't been seen walking nearby in such a long time during which she has embraced the lush life of an avid gambler or was it someone _else_ who filled her in?

.

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* * *

A/N:

Oh My God this must be the most _boring_ chapter that I have ever written for a story of mine and definitely the most vapid and uneventful one. I mean… how did I manage not to slip one single moment between Sasuke and Sakura? I didn't suspect that I will be focusing so much –too much, on the battle scene between Naruto, Sasuke and those Kumo shinobi. It even beats me because you guys know how much I despise to write fighting scenes. I hate them, I suck at them, I lack the vocabulary and the imagination for them and they bore me to death in fact I nearly fell asleep spellchecking this update. I hope that you guys who read this chapter found some sort of coherence into it.

So I humbly apologize to you for giving you something so mundane, monotonous and lacking any fluency. But but but… I purposely wanted to split the chapter which was becoming a bit too long for how I want this story to be, because the next two chapters will be entirely Sasuke and Sakura.

I have written some hot scenes between them ones that I am working on and thus I will post them shorty –I hope, and pray that I will somehow make it up for _this…_ I cannot even brand it as chapter.

So if you guys had the patience and dedication to skim through this chapter, you have my respect and my deepest gratitude *bow down to you*.

Sadly I must cut it short here because I want to rush another update for another story of mine that I have neglected and do not have the time to properly respond to your reviews –but of course that I have read every single one of them and thus I deeply _thank you_ guys for it: **7HeartAndSoul7, Urbiggestfan, Maram, C.S, MademoiselleRED , ILoveSxS, TisINinjaPenguin , Guest, JakuraAngel, guest, pinyacolada , guest , Guest, hifi,Guest,Guest.**

Before I forget, **Urbiggestfan** , I have a humble _request_ to you. I sincerely thank you for reading my story and find the time to let me know this, but I will kindly ask you to compel your words into **one single** review because it is not that I do not appreciate your effort, but because I do not find it fair to the other authors to artificially pump up the reviews for my story.

Oh, and before I forget since some of you guys have pointed this out, I know I _so_ know that I have this annoying tendency of making my descriptions so filigree and lush in adjectives and metaphors but the purpose of me writing stories is to be something that I am not in real life, namely poetic.

This is my writing style, good or bad and I will definitely stick to it, of course, keeping a decent limit so as not to get ridiculous. I have deleted a story of mine because of how much negativism and flaming reviews I got for it. But oh well… I have never claimed to be a gifted author so yeah… enough blabbering.

Oh… and please excuse the spelling errors, but my eyes hurt so bad and I have a bad eyesight so there are things that I miss on the second proofing, I am sorry for this. I will try to pay more attention in respect for my readers from now on.

I am deeply grateful for you guys for still following my story and even take from your precious time to leave a review and for this I sincerely love you guys and send you many _many_ cookies and hugs and kisses! And for the fact that you didn't find the last chapter boring, thank you. You give me courage and inspiration.

Till later…


	9. Marionette

**::Chapter IX – Marionette::**

* * *

"What happened? What was _that_ noise? Was it an explosion of your Jutsu or the enemy`s?" First thing he hears when his steps brought him further into the village, was that cursed light soprano timber bombarding him with questions that she was sprinkling without even breathing and the need to roll his obsidian tired orbs grew feral.

But there was no way in hell that Sasuke will grant her the pleasure to see that _she_ was capable to trigger _reactions_ from him and make him react, so he merely ignored the bombastic Priestess and simply walked past her blabbering form, faking nonchalance and apathy.

In fact, it looked like he was rudely ignoring her completely. She started again while her light steps were clicking on the pavements, being quick to fall into steps with him, chasing after his laconic shadow. "Why did Kumogakure no Sato shinobi attacked the Leaf?"

"Because they have probably heard that the Hokage is no more and thus they deduced that it would be a good opportunity to take advantage of the weakened state of the Village and conquer it." Sasuke even shocked himself for responding her in the first place. He didn't need to justify his actions in front of her now, did he?

"So it is basically _your_ fault for this!" Sakura pointed an accusing finger at him. "Because if you wouldn't have attacked the Leaf in the very first place, then this wouldn't have happened!"

"No one asked you for an opinion." He snarled to her half turning to asses her as they were passing the empty houses of the Village, without assessing anything from the surroundings.

"I know, but someone has to share it with you since you are too imperious to ask for it, so I am merely saving you the trouble." She chirruped and her missives were accompanied by a solar smile.

What the heck was she smiling at in such a context? She did it involuntarily because the chakra around her wrists –his chakra, became suddenly warmer and ticklish thus giving her an uplifting inspirited energy.

"Annoying woman…" Sasuke mumbled under his breath not even turning away to acknowledge her presence, but inwardly he was amazed actually that she didn't run away. Obedient puppet. Her light feel drummed along the pavements as she tried to fell into steps with him again when he opted for a quicker walking.

"Since you are so revolted by the concept of briefing me about the outcome of your clash, then I will deduce that you have managed to defeat them and thus keep this Village safe. So you _do_ have a heart underneath that cold laconic **mask** that you wear constantly."

Oh god the urge to slide his Kusanagi from under his rope belt and make her one head shorter grew feral and his fingertips itched to turn around and strangle this blabbermouth woman.

Again, Uchiha Sasuke kept silent. But _she_ in return didn't. In fact, his quietude and reticence only encouraged her and almost provoked her to respond to this brick walls and try to force her way inside but of course she kept her tiffany elegance and vivacious energy in her atmosphere intact.

They sunk into the solitary streets that were glowing like shimmering sapphires, bathed in a pleasant orange and bright ruby red radiance coming from the sinking sun. They were walking with the bleeding horizon in front towards the Uchiha compound.

Sakura was getting slowly familiar with the route –familiar with a _home_ that was not her Shrine, thus enhancing the feeling of loneliness in her heart and the need for roots, a history, a family and origins.

"I wonder why you are still keeping all the other Leaf shinobi into the prison. Why don't you try to reach a compromise with them, share your point of view and maybe you can still **atone** for all the sins you have made," Sakura talked lightly and casually about a sinner bending to the order of an archangel.

Sasuke fought the need to laugh at her stupidity but that would make her realize that he was listening –he was trying to fool her into thinking that he was rudely and unabashedly ignoring her with talent. "one is never too late to embrace the road to _redemption._ Not even you. You are not beyond salvation no matter how much you are trying to cling to those demons but–"

This is where her tone turned somehow more serious almost prophetic, wiser and deeper. "–I know that deep inside… you are tired of living in the _past._ This is the reason why you came here for, in a desperate attempt to paint the face of this Village in your colors. The colors of _change…_ " She stood away from the concept of revolution albeit it might describe his excessive extremist tendencies and radical ideologies.

He stood as silent as the zephyr playing through their hair and clothes.

"Are you hurt?" She chirped to him peeping at the way the streets were bathed in the afterglow of the golden claret sunshine, making it seem like they were traipsing through magical meandering streets, straight into another universe.

She got tingles of jolly at that feelings alone plus there was just something playful that she felt, a newfound fascination in trying to break this man's shell in half and discover the pearl inside that was too irresistible to forgo in lieu of it being entrapped into the dark abyss, long forgotten.

Of course that she got no reply in return from this man whose steps were rippling along the shadows of his limber silhouette as he was gracefully traipsing in front of her without turning back; she kept juggling after Sasuke trying to keep up with his pace and not get lost into the maze of streets, but then she discovered that gazing at his sculpted back as he stood straight, proud and elegant gave her an alternate face of the lights and penumbra that fell in a distinctive way on his form.

The thing that stood out before anything else was the Uchiha Crest sewed on his clothes, in the unique delineation of a the red and white _uchiwa_ fan glowing proudly on his back and this detail made Sakura realize that his family was a precious concept to him.

And for someone to try to preserve the flame of such a memory blazing into his mind such as he was willing to choose the path of revenge - a one-way route to self-destruction only betrayed that Sasuke did have a heart underneath that veneer of belligerent stoic attitude.

It must be the case since he opted to live in his old home even if those sinister memories were clearly haunting him and plaguing him from line like ghosts of the past, unlike his friends who made themselves cozy in the other parts or the Village, but he did not.

One would have thought that a group of rogue shinobi would have assaulted the Hokage tower already fighting for who would claim that title and who might be the most logical one to do that if not their Leader himself?

Clearly this young Uchiha whose stunning onyx eyes betrayed a splendid intelligence, foreshadowing, intuition and life experience which was way higher than his fragile age, was something out of the archetypes; because instead of self-proclaiming himself as the next Hokage with the distinctive arrogance of any respectable villain, Sasuke chose to procrastinate himself to the outskirts of the Village and be the first one to jump into the fray when it has been attacked.

And she has clearly seen the way he and his companions were being organized like they respected a certain hierarchy within their group, and everyone knew exactly what to do. Plus, some of his friends were close enough to him to go as far as to mock him and make jokes about him.

But the most intriguing thing about Uchiha and his friends of missing Nins was his bond with Kushina's child; the one whose tonic presence was solar and effervescent and so different from Sasuke' s and yet their cooperation was going beyond perception; they had a spiritual bond that made her very curious.

This was another proof of the fact that Sasuke was more than a mercenary; a more than a cruel rogue shinobi ranked as an S Class in the Bingo Book.

As a Priestess who embodied the symbol of clemency, Grace and leniency, Sakura will always welcome any sinner with an open heart never judging always trying to unearth the good in every sorrowful heart soaked in darkness, he being no exception.

As a simple woman, the Priestess was curious about this multitude of contrasts that sketched his personality. She could never do what he demanded last night in his brume of mind induced by alcohol, namely **hate** him.

Her pure heart that was aspiring to be transcendental, holy and forgiving will never allow her to hate this man. Hate was the easiest way to mask one's own ineptitude; it took way more courage to admit that he was flawed rather than succumb to hatred and blame the others for what he couldn't accomplish.

Liberation from the vicious loophole of vengeance requires a lot of inner strength and a strong mind which was void of evil; this is why Sakura was not a weak person just because she vowed to try her best and pull this man from the catacombs of darkness back to the light and not resent him for his behavior.

She was a fragment of what he tried to accomplish, only her heart was pure and innocent - in order to save him from his solitude and darkness, she was willing to happily shoulder his hate.

"Why do you care if I die or live?" Shockingly he _did_ answer to her last question but his tone lacked any sort of inflection –thus he didn't betray emotion, only that velvet tobacco and chocolate resonance that made her innards tremble like strings of a harp travelling along the pillar of her backbone. "If something happens to me, then you will be free. Isn't this what you want?"

It took her a too long moment to respond. Just like before she couldn't stand the concept of him being injured or dead. Why was that? Was this pity?

"Why are you so grumpy? We've won haven't we? This usually calls for celebration but it will be a little awkward since you are also villains who attacked the Village first and only one might think that you did it out of greedine–"

"–You, " For the first time since she and Sasuke have abandoned the battlefield, the Uchiha addressed her, breaking that bloodcurdling silence, startling her as she halt in her moves at the also resonance in his rich voice. " –don't you ever shut the fuck up?"

If she had any doubts that something was embittered him now she get her confirmation from the way his smoldering orbs flared like hot charcoal bristling from the depths of their abyss. But Sakura has learned a valuable lesson as a Priestess - never respond the evil with more evil.

So that was the reason why instead of blanching and shying away from him, she smiled in return to how his orbs were narrowed to slits, in a way that made the radiance of the eventide basket in her radiance, chirruping like a bird.

"I do keep silent but only when I am alone to pray and reflect, but now I am not alone because _you_ are here and even if I feel like talking to a rock, you can still _hear_ me so this makes it as a beginning of a conversation."

Was this woman plain stupid or simply trying to get him frenzied? "I would kindly advise you not to get too comfortable around me,"

Oh how she made him incensed with that carefree attitude, with how zephyr her words were as she seemed to be a fallen star on the earth, talking to him in some sort of an obliviousness churning inside her, without even trying. "I have warned you not to get attached to me."

Which is exactly what she will not do namely, obey his orders. So what if she was a prisoner? Honestly, she didn't feel like one despite the fact that he held her Chakra restrained and could follow her so far he hasn't quite made her miserable on the contrary he seemed to be afraid of her getting close to him rather than away from him.

Just like he was an enigma to her, he too didn't get her.

"So what if someone might get _fond_ of you? Why are you afraid of the concept of someone nurturing _feelings_ for you?"

Because bonds and feelings of attachment –especially those reciprocated, made him stray away from his purpose, made him reflect over things that he didn't welcome in his heart, they made him weak and prevented him from accomplishing his dreams. This woman was all light and naivety –she was out of this world.

"Are these types of words proper for a Priestess who is supposed to be the embodiment of chastity? Or are you just a skilled pretender?" Honesty, even he could see that he was rather curious and very wise but she lacked experience. She had the notions, but she didn't have the chance to taste them and touch for herself.

This started to get him to some very naughty ideas to full his mind and he quickly composed himself. He wasn't a hormonal teenager anymore for god's sake!

She gulped hard not because his words were justifiable but because something in their proximity and the intensity of the gleam in his pulchritudinous eyes took her breathe away and she found herself drown into how intricate they were.

"Don't try to eschew from my question by turning my own words against me."

"Tsk," Sasuke whipped around and picked up his pace again, silently hoping for the ground to split in half and swallow this annoying woman entirely. "I swear that I might do _something_ to you if you don't shut up already…" Though _killing_ her was the last thing in his mind now.

What the fuck was wrong with him? He just had a bloody fight and all he could think of was how tempting her _lips_ were. He was definitely mental. Hanging around with Naruto, Suigetsu, Jūgo and the rest of the gang drove him nuts.

"Honestly, even talking to the Mount Hokage is way more expressive than conversing with you." She outstretched a finger to him accusingly, but the inflexion of her voice sounded so childish and innocent rather than harsh and livid like his husky timbre.

Now she was insulting him, fucking great. Not only was she annoying with her blabbermouth, with that mirthful smile and those shimmering eyes, but she was making him vulnerable in front of his friends by giving them the chance to mock him because of an implied affiliation to her -romantic affiliation.

Something in the way her voice was rippling gently in a warm zephyr made him cautious and almost edgy which was ridiculous because he was Uchiha Sasuke and such feeble and frail feelings were alien to him.

Melodically and lyrically she was unraveling real concern for him exuding from the abyss of her heart and unfortunately the Priestess had no concept about the arts of deceiving; she was genuine, pure and untouched by the seed of evil till her core and so we're her harmonious shimmering smile and the lucent orbs coated in ineffable.

What was wrong with this woman? Sasuke couldn't fathom were those effervescent sincere words were oozing from, and yet they were exuding so unabashedly to him while those precious gemstones were seeking for his onyx ones, being visibly _not_ afraid to hold his gaze, on the contrary as she had nothing to hide from him harboring the reminiscence of a child's innocence - those pearls of transparency shining like the purest light in Heaven, Sakura was not afraid of the crepuscule into his obsidian pools because his evilness couldn't touch her.

It was now when it truly dawned on the Uchiha that the Priestess was genuinely pure as a snowflake fluttering on his palm and seeking for warmth. And honestly this surmise only vexed him more because now that he discovered the spring of her pestering curiosity, he knew that she won't stop sneaking under his skin.

Why hasn't he killed her again?

The only type of approach with this type of persons Sasuke quickly surmised, especially those annoying ones, was to rudely ignore her presence.

Yes, this couldn't be this hard since Sasuke was a pro at closing in his walls around his heart and block his mind and senses from useless distractions, so if her words would hit a wall of bricks instead of a triggered reaction from him, then she will most likely shut her mouth and let him sort out the files into the shelves of his precipitated mind.

Of course it shouldn't be a problem to ignore the sneaky Priestess especially since Sasuke developed a special shield against the hordes of rabid fangirls, if this one particular angelic young woman was atypical.

Not only she was _not_ displaying concupiscent behavior and sugary coated lines to try and flirt with him on the contrary, she seemed very interested in how he truly was as a _man_ and not just another tremendously handsome shinobi with an aristocratic background and a prominent family name.

Had the context been completely opposite and if they were other persons and not implied enemies, Sakura might have been someone who could carry on a decent conversation and they were only a handful of people who the Uchiha was cozy with conversing and this was quite ironic.

And not to mention that being an Uchiha, as much as his display of iciness and coldness towards everyone was typical to such a standoffish man, he was very sensitive to feelings and they went deeper into the abyss of human emotions even though the art of deception in the masquerade of demons was his second nature.

So he was not in the bit oblivious to the details and lights that composed the canvas painting the Priestess. She was the embodiment of light, a splendor gemstone shimmering from under the pile of dust, rocks and mud that covered the solitary streets and her beauty was unseen.

Everything about her big expressive emerald eyes, the subtle tinged of aureate sewed seductively discreet into the ring of her irises and the softness of her tiffany features, the effervescence in her harmonious light soprano tone and the involuntarily cute charm was making parts of Sasuke's mind - very deep parts, reacted and came alive.

He didn't need to put up with emotional turmoil. There were so many pressing things that Sasuke had to handle to relinquish to his stupid ancestral impulses.

The Raikage would most likely bridle when he heard that someone has crushed his people so definitely he will come and research what the cause of his defeat was, then the villagers will most likely revolt and cause more havoc to the already instability.

The Leaf Shinobi were in prisons for obvious reasons and thus the income of the Leaf that relied heavily on ninja missions will dramatically drop until nullified.

They had to assure their clients who purchased tea and cereals from the Leaf that they were still a reliable source, despite the rebellion and the Hokage`s assassination.

The Council was already history because in the moment when Sasuke defied Hiruzen, he also paid a short visit to his two hags of counselors who agreed to the Uchiha's annihilation and alienation and sliced their throats in their sleep, despite a sadistic pleasure blooming inside him to torture them a bit more before sending both to Hell. So they needed to rethink the current system but they couldn't do that with only _their_ people.

Yes, he had in mind a simplistic hierarchy imagining it with Naruto as Hokage and Shikamaru as his right hand man and military advisor, but a village couldn't be ruled with only two men alone, so consequently they needed to gain the trust of the prisoners, as impossible and utopic that might sound, but how?

How can you reach the hearts of the ones you have just crushed? Ironically enough Naruto has been right all the time even though that fool was one of the most naive things that Sasuke ever seen.

And this is when it hit him that they needed allies among the other villages. Strong allies and that must be done fast before a village strong enough comes and pulverize them. But who? He knew for a fact that the Villages were currently engaged in a silent grudge, even though they formed virtual alliances but those were weak ones.

The closest one was Sunagakure no Sato. Who was their Kage again? Sasuke didn't know anymore because Orochimaru so conveniently killed the former Kazekage. Whoever replaced him was not someone notorious, at least not one that Sasuke knew about.

The others were out of question. In order to make allies of other Kage, Sasuke realized that they needed ones to understand their point of view and embrace their radical ideas of changes and this only meant that someone equally young and visionary will cut in. Not some old decrepit hag like Danzo or Sarutobi's counselors who were opposing to **revolution.**

And this is what the young ninjas in the prison needed to realize - that _they_ had the power to change the current out of date ruling for the better and not the past generation who only done mistakes. They were no _marionettes._

But of course, they will never agree to cooperate or listen to whatever he had to say while being captives. He needed a good tactic but how should he approach those people?

They were being brainwashed! And this invisible ropes tied them to this Village; - no, it _bound_ them to the concept of a Village, of belonging to somewhere, find their roots and history there and then fight to protect it.

Much like he–

"–you know... I took the liberty to closely observe you and came to the conclusion that you are always _tense_ like you live under constant _stress._ Have you tried Meditation Zen? I can helpwith that, if you would like."

He nearly pulled the hair off his scalp when the Priestess barged into a philosophical conversation with his inner self and of course, she managed to nearly make him lose his cool.

And again, he didn't answer to her. Why would he need something from _her_ of all the people? Uchiha Sasuke begged and asked to no one, much less to a captive. How humiliating would that be?

Didn't he learn any jutsu to effectively shut her mouth at least for a moment? What was her problem anyway? Maybe he was too permissive with her and of course his small –foolish _foolish_ foolish– moment of dropping his guard down and get intimate with her fueled her buoyancy to approach him without fear.

In fact, she never seemed to be showing fear before him, not even when he was chasing her. Was she that strong or plain retarded? Couldn't she ebb it down her pretty skull that he was _not_ an abusive man who fancied torturing his prisoners? Especially _women_ prisoners.

Why was she pushing him so hard to make him act so out of character then? Was she probing the span of his limits?

"I can't believe my eyes that men are so scared of _feelings_ when in reality they are supposed to be stronger and thus manage their emotions with much more skill than women." She continued to move those lips of hers sputtering things to him that almost blew his mind and made an impulse to kill himself grow feral.

That made the scowl that creased his handsome face deepen. Maybe he was treating her a bit too lenient for a prisoner. Should he–

"–Hey, slow down please, I am so tired. I cannot use my chakra, remember? I cannot keep the pace with you. If only you didn't have such long legs…" She pouted comically which Sasuke completely missed because he had his broad back turned on her, but inwardly, Sakura was not completely bothered and insulted at his blunt behavior because she was busy admiring his beauty and the model like limber figure.

"So... what are your plans now that you have so conveniently murdered the current higher ups and silenced any opposing forces? Are you going to claim the Village for yourself by force? I am positive that the ones who are blinded by _power_ or have been granted it from their ancestors think that they are entitled to take the Lead in front of the other people, but have you forgotten that our faith should be in the value of the individual and not a group of privileged people?"

That almost had him stop dead in his tracks and albeit Sasuke didn't show any sign of being fazed by those words, it piqued his interest.

Now she was starting to talk like a real politician; the Priestess was the personification of the archetype of a naïve fool who has lived in a secluded world far from what was truly happening in the core of the society and now seemed to be posessing a vast knowledge about it.

"Isn't this the core of all the power abuses or the discrimination that happen in the world?" She went on stirred by his silence because somehow she felt that the topic was reaching him –since the same discrimination and rejection started with the damnation of the Uchiha years ago.

"We tend to create segregations amidst the people who are just like us, simply because they are having their own individual skills and beliefs, blindly forgetting that we have equal rights and thus we are bound to cooperate rather than contradistinguish the ones who don't share the same opinions. You can take this Village by force since you have the sheer _power_ but you will never win the people's _hearts_ and acquire real pace and cooperation by not accepting to compromise and rely on words and diplomacy, rather than violence," she has not missed the sudden spike in his chakra and the way the jutsu outcast on her pulsated of a glowing light, but surprisingly, instead of being menacing or darker in shade, it was somehow different, _warmer_ and more pleasant to her skin and not in the bit constricting or restraining her, albeit her chakra flow was inexistent.

"Violence will only lead to more conflict which ultimately results in more bloody wars and loss of lives. But you _do_ know all about that, don`t you? You are not like all the other rogue villains. You _do_ care about the others, am I right? This is the reason why you are sparring the villagers` lives. There is _more_ than darkness running through your vessels. I am sure of that."

Sasuke barely kept his mouth shut. She was right. In everything she has said. But the things she was spilling so casually to him were so hard to accomplish. As long as there will more power flowing through some people`s veins –stronger than in anyone else, then those people will be tempted to use it to take over the others.

The impulse for people to dominate, to detach from the rest and strike as Leaders was unavoidable. Sasuke too valued the lives of the other people and contrary to general belief, he was not considering himself _better_ than the rest on the contrary, his arrogance was only a façade; because Uchiha was not keeping people at distance simply because he thought of them unworthy of belonging to his social circle, but because he was not a sociable person by nature and bonds were equalizing  weakness according to his beliefs.

Uchiha openly admitted that the only reason why he managed to kill the legendary Sannin Orochimaru was because of his weakened state –due to a violent clash with Sarutobi Hiruzen and a formidable Uzumaki Kinjutsu that he cast on the serpent leader in exchange for his own life, and not because the power he possessed at that time was greater than Orochimaru's, on the contrary it was subpar.

Sakura knew that the raven haired male understood her words perfectly, if only hypothetically because this handsome Sasuke Uchiha was definitely _not_ stupid.

And if he chose to rebel against the current ruling and aspire to progress then it must mean that he was born as a visionary with a penchant for being a Leader –even one who guarded from the shadows and that person must be someone who understood how the world went by; he must be a shinobi who was in for progress since he travelled a lot with his group of friends and this made her wonder whether there were more like him across the Nations of Shinobi

He didn't stop. She had to run after him, already panting from the fight and physical exhaustion. "So, were they your friends who helped you attack the Village?" Again Sasuke didn't answer only looked straight ahead with a pissed off expression slanted across his mien. "What about the woman from the Uzumaki clan? Is she your _girlfriend_? Because she seems to me that she is in _love_ with you." Curiosity and something _else_ –deeper and more intense, spaned rapidly throughout her heart when thinking about Karin and Sasuke together.

Oh for the love of–

The Priestess pursed her lush lips and pouted like a small child whose mother wouldn't buy her candle. "Are the two of you _just_ friends? She seemed remotely jealous on me for no reason because I didn't give her any reason to be so envious and dare I say... posessive. Or is it because you are _together_ as in a romantic _couple_ and thus she is entitled to have a _claim_ on you? You and the lady with bright red hair... Karin." She crossed her hands back, and never breathed throuh her ranting and albeit there was no problem in Uchiha being in a relationship with a woman, something churned into her heart like a key trying to open the wrong lock. "Are you two romantically invol–"

Sasuke could have remained quiet and avoid the answer elegantly or sternly and intervene into her mumblings with an acerbit acid remark, but he wanted no misunderstanding and no form of affectionate association with someone so desperate and out of control when it came to personal feelings like Karin, so he tossed his laconic answer to her bluntly and without any single emotion of attachment. "–No."

He barely _barely_ kept his temper on a leash and the anger in his suppressed voice out of his aloof façade because no, he knew her game of fools and it was quite childish; this Priestess wanted to get him to **react** , to make him act out of character, get him drop down his walls and step into an unfamiliar forests, and once inside an alien territory, she will fructify the chance to catch him out of guard but no.

Not a fat chance to trick Uchiha Sasuke like this. She was just a fool with a mouth even more annoying and obnoxious than Naruto`s –he shall make double sure that those two idiots don't befriend each other and join forces in making his life a living Hell, because let's face it… he _is_ living in the Devil`s realm right now.

She smiled a genuine victorious smile that went unheeded by the Uchiha since he was still walking in front of her, never presenting his face to her like avoiding a lock of eyes on purpose. "Why not? She seems to like you very much and she acts like she is jealous on me." Sasuke stopped abruptly, swiveling on his heel like a swift puma in a fluid motion, taking Sakura by surpirse when she almost bumped her nose into his shoulder and wrapped a hand around her petite waist, bringing her flush into his chest, startling the Priestess and she gasped shortly at the contact.

Uchiha groaned darkly in her face sneering the worlds to her, visibly seething on the inside and barely keeping his cool on the outside, to prevent his inner thoughts to overflow outside and take the best of his temper.

"There is nothing to be _jealous_ about since there is obviously _nothing_ going on between US." And by emphasizing the word 'us' he meant both between her and the Priestess and Karin and him. Just as unexpected Sasuke let her go after two more seconds while staring into the depths of her shimmering crystal jade eyes. "You are just a prisoner, so don't abuse my patience."

She gulped once to alleviate a lump forming inside her throat -not because he threatened her, but because of the way his warm minty breath fanned upon her face and snapping back into reality and missing his hold around her flute waist, Sakura started to run back after him. Man was he fast. They already arrived to the Uchiha district but before he crossed the wall or jumped or climb it or get inside inconspicuous as the shinobi that he was, Uchiha did something deeply symbolic.

The elegant taps of his swift heels stopped right in front of the gates of the Uchiha Districts that have been secured with boards barricades which were blocking and sealing the entrance and easily tore them to shreds with one single punch into the wood so that it won't resemble a cursed place or an abandoned ghost town anymore.

Sakura`s breath hitched halfway her lungs, straining her windpipe like a knot around her throat and her emerald orbs squeezed shut opened from the reverberating sound of cracked wood, blinking as she took in the way large splinters sprung every possible direction, while Sasuke stood still as they seemed not to touch him.

A thick shadow darker and richer than tar was spanning around his limber form; that darkness, hatred mixed with the feeling of revenge seemed to be latched to him, becoming his sole companion as his presence seemed suddenly ominous and malice but at the same time ,there was something solemn and majestic about him that Sakura couldn't place.

She sunk into the streets after him, finding his laconic responses and that gravestone grim atmosphere of the deserted place bloodcurdling and depressing, so she tried to cheer it up or rather keep holding on that fragments of sanity that threatened to dissipate from her brain because of the tension of that place where anyone could easily lose his mind. "Do you have a girlfriend then?"

She started again with the same stale and annoying subject and she missed the way Sasuke did something so uncharacteristically, namely rolling his onyx eyes until they hit the back of his head at her blabbering.

In reality, she was tempted to ask him about his excessive behavior towards the entrance gate but she knew better than to touch such sensitive topics in front of Sasuke and besides, she found some sort of an inner guilty pleasure in taunting this man about topics that were uncomfortable to him –not sensitive ones like his _family_ , and she was having fun seeing how he tried his best not to bridle when in reality he was sneering inside like a latent volcano ready to erupt any moment by now.

There was just something about such a calm man`s other personality that he kept latent deep inside him, one that aroused her interest and Sakura wanted to peel every layer until she reached that Sasuke that was buried so deep inside, and hidden into his heart that seemed to be a closed fortress, so impenetrable and untouchable.

Maybe he should throw her ass in the jail with the other prisoners or make her sleep with his friends –blabbermouths like Naruto and Kiba. She was making him go crazy and clinging to a topic that was as alien as it was useless and completely out of his vocabulary.

So of course, the last Uchiha heir didn't answer to her and she knew that she won't get a reply for granted, but she was mild curious about his attitude towards women because as formidable as he was as a shinobi, she wanted to see if she could depict the same undying passion in him as a man and not a ninja.

Plus, she has seen the look in the eyes of the women albeit fearful for what he was capable of doing as a rogue ninja who melted the flickering candle of life in their Hokage and led him across the Styx River; it was also lustful and fascinated for his dark mysterious aura of intangibility, his explicit beautiful features and the regal masculine liniament. He could have had any woman he wanted with a single look in those amazingly sapphire eyes of his if he desired to.

"I assume that you are the lady killer type," Sakura seemed to be taunting him with that nightingale tune of her light soprano inflections as she joggled to him and tried to fell into pace with him, but Sasuke picked up his pace on purpose, mentally cursing his family`s choice of home to be this far from the entrance of the Uchiha District. "so you must have broken many hearts then, didn't you?"

She deadpanned behind his back suddenly and made a horrified face akin to being hit by a truck when a crazy realizatio materialized into her foolish unexperienced brain. "Don't tell me t-that you like men instead!"

Cant she NOT shout it out loud something so imbecile on the streets of the previous Uchiha clan`s district? It was shameful and disgracing even though they were all death; his family would turn in their graves at such an insult. He was one step away from slapping his face at this remark. If she goes on, then he will do something to her that he will probably regret it.

When he didn't reply to her, Sakura started to shriek even louder. "O-Oh my K-Kami-sama you _are_ a-attracted to the people o-of the same gend-" she couldn't even mutter the word _sex_ and Sasuke would have found it a good opportunity to make her embarrassed if he was not clenching his jaw and gritting his teeth suppressing his anger. "…or could it be that y-you are… how do they call it…. Asexual?"

 _Ok, that did it!_

He swirled around on his heel like a feline and she almost bumped into his chest if she didn't stop on time for her to take a blood freezing doom glare from him and his eyes were flaming like charcoals, gleaming the colors of the bleeding dusk, practically hissing and growling in her face.

"You," the way he practically went lower than a bass guitar made his leather voice sound non-human an frightening to the point where her toes curled and the tiny hair along her forearms and the back of her earlobes prickled. "are getting on my last nerves."

"I-I a-apologize," she gulped and whispered to him while she fought her impulse to askew her emerald orbs from his crimson bleeding ones as his stare seemed to look deep down her core in a place that she was still an angel.

"I didn't m-mean to i-insult you. I was just curious, that`s all." He knew that she was being honest. This chirruping Paradise bird was still so childish and yet to ripen, albeit her feminine forms almost stole his gaze and made his perusal wander in places that they shouldn't.

Sasuke sayd nothing to her only that explicit scowl carved on his handsome face deepen and he abruptly turned his chiseled back on her and started to traipse again. She released a breath that got stuck midway her lungs, padding after him. Man, he was so scary when he put effort into focusing all his energy into those eyes.

Then, when Sasuke thought that he did enough to silence her for good, she proved him wrong once again, seemingly not fazed by his death glare. "You know, it is no problem even if you like men, really. Love knows no boundaries and no gender boundaries. There are many ways of loving someone–"

"–If you are _that_ curios about me, then how about I demonstrate it to you…" This is the exactly moment when his leathery voice dropped like a baritone key on a Grand Piano, barely resonating and mostly trembling huskily and darkly and making Sakura`s entire column shiver and a warm sensation coursed along her entire body; a sudden strange constriction into her navel knotted like a ball tightened while his amazing scent entered her bubble and she locked gazes with _those_ eyes. "what a _man…_ an _Uchiha_ can be."

Half lidded obsidian orbs shuffled to her parted lips and unconsciously Sakura gulped audibly twice to alleviate that constriction in her throat.

For as long as an electric silence fell between them and Sasuke made no move to step aside –on the contrary it seemed like he inched closer to her, everything around faded into a blurred distance and she remained trapped by those hypnotic amazing onyx eyes, observing every detail about his features so clearly cut, so masculine and alabastrine and so indescribably beautiful.

Now _that_ stole every word out of her mouth; Sasuke barely prevented a side smirk to crease on his lips.

On the outside, he looked like a feline entrapping its helpless prey, while on the inside he was laughing like a madman at the befuddled expression of the Priestess, seeing that even though her mind might be uncorrupted and seemingly confused, her _body_ on the other hand was betraying her dark desires and _badly,_ because by the way she visibly shuddered when he intentionally made his voice less calloused and stern and more sensual and chocolate rich, it was just crystal clear that he was affecting her and make her react to _him_ by only doing that –being his normal self.

Maybe a little tiny bit dare he say _flirtatious,_ but this type of approach was also something that seemed to come to him naturally. He kept on repeating himself that he was playing mind games with her and _not_ trying to charm her.

"Hn," Just as sudden and having the versatility of a virtuoso actor, Sasuke alternated the timbre of his voice and had a sudden flip in his attitude and if she wasn't looking at him so closely and intently like she was doing now, Sakura would have been tempted to believe that everything has been in her imagination; did he actually... coquetted with her? "stupid girl."

That line alone and the flat emotionless and disimpassioned tone in his velvety alto voice crushed whatever grain of intimacy from the roots, before it bloomed into something that neither of them wanted.

Before her heart would miss more beats than already and making her intakes of air –large inhales, to be even more uneven and her knees to wobble and threatening to give off under the weight and this time, it had nothing to do with fatigue.

It was like a mysterious feeling that Sakura has never felt before in anyone's presence suddenly weighed too much to carry and she had this frenzy to _share_ this powerful sentiment with someone close to her, but of course, the man before her was a brick of walls and his enclosed heart will allow to no one to peep inside.

A hand resting atop her racing heart made Sakura`s emerald orbs to cast down to be sure that the poor organ didn't grow a pair of wings and fluttered out of her rib cage, by the way it begged to be set free from its golden cage to soar to the sky. What is this strange sensation?

Was it because of his Jutsu and the closeness between the caster and the one who was marked with it, acting in some sort of distorted resonance?

"Hey, wait for me!" Seeing as Sakura remained suspended somewhere out of time in her stupor, Sasuke has took his sweet time to traipse –dash, the Hell out of her annoying presence, hoping that by some sort of miracle, this woman will dissipate into the air and leave him in his fascinating solitude, but her buoyant feminine voice almost had him slap his forehead.

Those light clicks on the concrete raising the dust in their way, jolly following his meandering shadow back to his home were starting to get somewhat familiar by now.

If anything, even if he wouldn't have been able to _feel_ her through their Jutsu which worked as a liaison between them, so bright and so clear like a tickling stream of a mountain river leaking along the peaks, Sasuke would still be able to depict her distinctive presence.

There was just something idiosyncratic and unique about the Priestess which was unmistakable as it was enticing and even someone like him, whose emotions were suppressed to the point where he resembled the carved statue of a handsome Dainty sculpted in marble with no emotion transgressing his eyes and heart, was able to perceive it.

And this alone pissed Sasuke off very badly. That, and the fact that she knew how to ask the most imbecile questions in that innocent manner that would make him look like the most savage beast if he pretty much snapped in anger at her. Damn her and her eternally ineffable personality.

* * *

She didn't want to be alone _here,_ Sakura concluded as she threw a weary glance around somehow having this constant feeling that there were voices and stares suspended somewhere out of time and out of this world of perceptions staring at her and haunting this place and it made her blood freeze into her vessels and her chest to clench, as an anxious feeling and a restless sensation creeping along her spine and limbs making her weary and almost… _scared._

There was just something about the former Uchiha Compound and the way it seemed to be inhospitable but at the same time plead for life to fill it once more and reveal all those tragedies that remained scribbled into those dark painted walls of the impressive house and albeit their traditional Japanese decorations, the old ponds, the streets that once were filled with laughters and children`s effervescent beams and vendors selling their products, now it was just an empty carcass without a soul, pretty much like their last standing heir who never once slowed down his fast pace to wait for her.

It looked ghostly, eerily and still bearing marks of the discrimination –if the walls surrounding it weren't enough evidence or the fact that the incident hasn't been investigated up to the finest details before putting the blame on Uchiha Itachi, and the hollow feelings of emptiness, grief and sorrow made Sakura`s entire system fill with iciness and cold shivers running along her spine, in complete antithesis to how Sasuke made her feel moments ago.

No matter what, Sakura didn't want to remain here alone especially now at dusk when not even the sun would step into these empty streets and when the shadows took the contour of her vivid imagination, conjuring ghosts and spirits back into this world from where they were lingering restless, entrapped between the Veil without the ability to cross over and go to Heaven.

Oh dear Kami-sama, even if it meant to follow her captor that was keeping her here as a prisoner back to his den, Sakura didn't want to remain here without Sasuke and this is why she tucked on the ample folds of the embroidered luxurious kimono mindful not to step on it with her bamboo sandals and land on her butt, she jogged after the last Uchiha.

As idiotic as this might sound, being in Sasuke`s presence felt comforting and an unexplainable sense of protection and security enveloped her whenever he was around, and this was understandable since she has witnessed just how formidably strong he was, all of these in association with the woman`s inborn need for the protection of a man which was conjured from where it laid latent within her in the presence of such a splendid shinobi.

And it had nothing to do with the fact that Sakura was perfectly capable of defending herself, speak for herself and hold her ground in the presence of the enemy, no, it was the _other_ type of protection and contentment that she sought for, one that only another one could grant.

In her case, it was Sasuke. She kept on staring at his slender muscled back and apart from the fascination and temptation to depict every delineation of his lithe form and take in just how breathtakingly perfect his sculpted physique was, there was something more that Sakura was looking for and that was the answer to this question.

How could Sasuke be so taciturn and apathetic to everything around him like the fact that he was traipsing along the streets of his former Clan`s property, strolling casually with strong and confident strides, never breaking any sort of reaction that he was moved, touched by memories –by _his_ memories that were probably resurfacing and ricocheting back to him full force as he was seeing his past self in every stone and every part of this District that remained untouched, keeping his finesse and elegance in his straight shoulders and kept on moving like a cold iceberg while it even fazed her, who was a stranger.

Wasn't he feeling anything for his family anymore? Has he made peace with everything that happened here as time went by?

Did he truly became a block of ice with no emotions crossing his heart? A perfect heart of stone, which was not capable to display emotions?

Has she misjudged him for keeping his feelings latent with the artistry of a versatile actor, when in reality she was helplessly and hopefully looking at a _shattered_ mirror, which was reflecting only what _she_ as a Priestess wanted to see, but has never been there to begin with?

No… that couldn't be. She wasn't mistaken. Sasuke was not completely cold, otherwise his actions would have been different.

The blizzard in his onyx eyes, those quenched scintillations reflected in the platinum rings around his black sapphire irises, those subtle and almost unnoticeable mannerism were all a solid proof that Sasuke was concealing his inner feelings in exchange for this stoic façade that played as a trump card before every enemy, because no one cold guess what was going on through his mind and thus making him always stay in advantage over the emotional torment of his opponents.

A cold airflow passed through their clothes and ruffled their hair and Sakura shuddered as she folded her hands around her form, shivering.

Everything was cold around, the atmosphere in the District was chilling, Sasuke`s home was cold and the owner himself was the embodiment of coldness. It made one`s spirit, no matter how flamboyant, hopeful and cheerful it was, crush down like a satellite. It was hard not to get depressed and sink in mystery in such a Godforsaken place.

When they finally made it back to Sasuke`s former house, the Uchiha slide the front door open and casually padded inside the yard, not even sparing her another glance, probably being grateful that she finally shut her mouth up.

The entire atmosphere felt heavy, tensed and very _very_ awkward, especially between the two of them and honestly, Sakura dreaded to go inside.

It was hard to approach someone who was this emotionless and brusque as Uchiha Sasuke, simply because she couldn't guess what was going on inside his mind.

As she was about to follow the ebony haired male through the front yard and into the veranda, Sakura`s keen eye caught the glimmer of something beautiful stealing the last rays of the bleeding orange sunset and immediately a genuine beam collided with her lush lips.

"Oh? What is that?" Hearing the tone in her voice made Sasuke halt his movement as he was about to remove his sandals from his feet in a disciplined Uchiha upbringing, turning his head over his shoulder to look at the rose haired Priestess.

"A pond with koi fishes!" She sang to him in a surprising jolly inflection and her heart filled with happiness. It was indeed a clean koi fishes pond similar to the one she had on her Shrine, one that Sasuke personally took care of and that was for a reason that was not known by Sakura –the fact that it belonged to his _mother_ Mikoto.

She adored koi fishes and he preserved that memory intact, filling it with fishes and clean water just like before, preserving the intangibility of the pleasant memories of his childhood days.

It was not necessarily the image of the pond filled with colorful fishes gliding along the crystalline surface the thing that triggered back those memories for him, but the sound of the droplets of splashing water as the fishes swam and the relaxing syphoning of the water pumping from the fountain.

He just kept on staring at Sakura in complete silence while watching her dropping down on her knees, neatly folding the kimono under her legs to preserve modesty and elegance and leaned forward to look inside the pond, smiling and seemingly to address to the… fishes?

"Oh my, you are so pretty!" Was she mental or purely crazy? Nonetheless, something about the way her voice came as a melodious harmony of a violin and the mystique aura about her that made her entire persona glow of a brightness that beat the lucent of the sunset was magical.

Sasuke found himself entrapped by the domestic image of her staring at those mindless creatures swimming unperturbed, without blinking. Something about her smile… the curl of her tempting lips shining in all the splendor of its radiance, mirroring the purity inside her soul gave her a mesmerizing afterglow, one she never had before.

She was genuinely happy and she was not even hiding that fact. It only took her such a simple trivia to be delighted when in reality _she_ was the one to shimmer like thousand suns sewed into the sky.

A rounded golden moon was raising from behind the mountains, big, full, majestic and enticing and the night sky just made the entire landscape fade from reality into a dreamland; and she was the most shimmering star, the breathtakingly beautiful diamond.

Sasuke felt it sound and clear; there was a sudden warmth traipsing along his body, slowly in torpid strokes, not enough to affect him entirely and make him have a miraculous volteface in personality, but perceptible enough to let him know that those dainty sensations were coursing through his Jutsu and she probably felt it too –that she was letting her feelings effulge through him as well.

"Aren't you lovely? You look exactly like _my_ koi fishes!" She kept on caressing the starry night`s embrace with a voice so suave that million harps in Paradise couldn't begin to create such a melodious zephyr.

"Oh, you are so beautiful!" She leaned forward to tap the water and design lazy ripples along the surface with her fingertip while miraculously no fish has swam away from her, on the contrary they seemed to be swimming around her submerged hand.

Sasuke wordlessly padded to her, shifting his gaze from the fishes to the Priestess, orbs intense and unfathomable.

He kept on following the gentleness of her tiffany touch, the diaphanous radiance on her porcelain face, those eyes that mirrored into the lucent of the water shining brighter than an emerald diamond sewed in gold and her _smile…_ he absolutely couldn't describe that brisk imperceptible emotion that shot through his entire spine when he took in her curl of lips and since it was probably one useless feeling, he quickly brushed it off.

Even so… he just stood there beside her, watching her incredible grace when she touched the water and occasionally stroked the luminous surface to splash some droplets and play with his fishes. It was like she was barely touching it with a hand so delicate and gracious that he almost _almost_ wished that it was his _skin_ the one she was caressing and not something _so_ stupid as a pond of koi fishes.

He still hasn't beaten Naruto to a bloody pulp for taunting him the entire morning for taking care of the pond, mocking and laughing at him that he wanted to trade the life of a shinobi for cultivating his secret passion and becoming a _gardener_ , that damned dobe.

"You are perturbing them. What are you? A small _child_?" He spoke apparently monotonous while in reality he was more like focused on her motions than the words that were spilling out of his bored mouth. "Stop that and come inside, you look ridiculous."

No, in fact... she looked like a phenomenon because no one in this entire world could be so young, pure, innocent and angelic while still having the grace, the elegance, the curves and the mesmerizing features of a grown up woman, like this Priestess.

But like Hell will Sasuke ever let her know this. A comical pout graced her lips and she looked at him through a silky drape of curled long eyelashes, jade diamonds shimmering to him and looking into his obsidian orbs that were blending into the veil of the velvet night sky, partly concealed by his locks of raven hair fluttering into the gentle breeze.

"I am sorry. But it is just… everything is so unfamiliar and unfriendly here and I miss my home so much. I got sentimental by seeing something that I am comfortable with." She mumbled in a tone so sad and grim that almost made _something_ shiver inside his chest. He felt it all too clear, it made everything inside him vibrate.

Sasuke knew it all too well that Sakura was sad and lonely and clearly felt that gloomy atmosphere, especially while she was a Priestess accustomed to meditate and interact with the elements and the nature. He knew. He knew about it, but he didn't care –or acted like he couldn`t care less.

She was a prisoner and she was already on a better predicament here in his home, with _him_ beside her rather than in those spartan dirty cells with the rest of the brainwashed Leaf ninja.

* * *

Then something flipped inside that stare of hers making her look like she was bipolar because next thing he knew, Sakura has curled her hands around his wrist and tucked on it gently but firmly, singing like a nightingale. "Come, let`s play together!"

Sasuke`s brain had a complete blackout. Do… _what_? Before he could proceed what she requested from him doing his best to keep his stupor out of his laconic visage and not betray anything that he was thinking about, Sakura has pulled him down to her, turning her profile to face the koi pond but Sasuke opposed.

And that resulted in her losing balance because she leaned forward too much, hoping to get their locked hands –when she let her fingers slide along his warm palm and entwined their fingers together, in a gesture so daring and forward considering the fact that she took the liberty to be so carefree in Uchiha Sasuke`s vicinity, to tap the water and the most _idiotic_ thing in the world happened.

It was so overused and cliché just like a stale line from a romantic movie that was getting old fashioned but at the same time, the stupidest of the situation laid exactly in the simplicity of it. "Hey, let go of–"

"–Ah!" She literarily dragged Sasuke after her, bending over the pond as they dived ungraciously into the cold fresh water. The luscious fishes scattered like soap bubbles around while the splash of water shattered the glossy surface.

Clothes got heavy and soaked and tendrils of hair stuck to faces while both Sasuke and Sakura quickly shot their hands to the edge of the pond as the water reached their chests being surprisingly deep.

"Oh my Kami!" Adrenaline rushed haywire through her system making her furious heart thump faster and infuse more blood through her system to warm her up as her petite body`s temperature dropped suddenly almost making her choke on her own breathes.

Sakura used the back of her palms to rub the water out of her glossy eyes as she palmed the cold large stones on the edge and tried to push herself up, but of course that her hands slide off the slippery wet stones and she has been propelled backwards ricocheting straight into Sasuke`s chest, successfully preventing the Uchiha to swim to the edge himself. "Oh no–"

She landed straight on the startled ebony haired male, combining their body weights and they floated for a moment before they briefly submerged again, not enough to sink but enough to get a generous gulp of water to fill their nostrils.

Out of reflex, a pair of strong hands cupped her hipbones to keep the incredibly annoying woman in place and not have her trash and tousle uselessly and cause more damage than she already did.

Her own hands aimed to various disarray directions. Her right hand curled around his forearm in a natural instinct to remain above the water, chocking on it as it filled her throat, coughing for few times and blinking rapidly, while her left one landed on something hard but _soft_ , somewhere under his abdomen and had she been aware of what she was doing, she would have realized with a start that she nearly groped him by the–

"–Fuck!" Sasuke cursed aloud pushing the clumsy Priestess off his person, giving her a hard and not so gentle push to the edge of the pond as she automatically gripped on the edge again, but in that unruly of moves and hectic automatic impulses, neither realized that they turned the other way around.

The extremely wet and dripping Uchiha expertly avoided a blow to land on his face when Sakura let her left hand fly off him, nearly poking his eye, escaping on time on his right, while the emerald eyed troublemaker grabbed the first thing that came her way and that was the waterfall tank. "Watch out you moro–"

Too late in warning her not so friendly that she wasn't gripping a water or the edge of the pond as they seemed to have been sliding through the water onto the other side of the pond –which was pretty large, Sasuke found himself sprayed with a generous amount of water sprinkling from the tank as Sakura created a water pistol with her hands, of course failing to take a hold on something solid and get out. "–Shit!"

He whipped his head backwards through the water with much effect, making his ebony bangs whirl in slow motion following his motion as he covered his stinging orbs –eyes that were tired beyond belief by the usage of the Mangekyou Sharingan earlier, with his palms sending a trail of indecent insults to Sakura, who wasn't hearing him because of the water in her eyes and ears, and the sound of their bodies stroking the mirror surface.

From a third party`s point of view, they looked like they were either fighting there or shooting a steaming hot pictorial for a glossy magazine.

"I… am going to _strangle_ you." Of course that Sakura knew that he didn't mean what he has said –or did he, but the way he said it sounding like he was choking on his words not to yell out loud at her in pure fury was almost comical. Now _that_ successfully made his short temper flare.

She pulled her long hair that was glued to her face like a ghost`s disheveled locks backwards with her hands and turned around to face Sasuke`s back, eyes filled with everything starting from worry, remorse and guilt, to amusement and stupor. How the Hell did they ended up like this?

"I-I am _so_ deeply sorr–" She was the one to cut herself short and not Sasuke who was busy shaking his head like a lion spilling droplets of water around his form and rubbing his eyes that were bloodshot and burning like he had needles shoved down his irises, feeling her mouth going dry and her throat contort, despite the rinse around, while she got a good glimpse at him.

Because of their soaked wet clothes that were sticking to their bodies like second skin, she cold depict every single declivity and peak of his back and a brief of his waist and ass molding under the clothes he wore, which became pretty much transparent and for a moment, words failed to come to her brain.

Every single muscle which was tensed and flexed because of how he was fighting to fight the current made every crest, every sharp edge and long fibers bulk and ripple, giving him a full mature and masculine touch and because he was rinsed in the cold water and his peculiar spikes curled upwards were now straight and stuck to his long neck being even darker than ebony gave him an unexpected sensual and erotic touch.

"Why _Priestess…_ have the words of apology froze on your mouth because of the _cold_ water?" Sakura could have never for dear life depict the type of tone he used in that line because it sounded like everything he wanted to suppress –rage, mockery, insult, but the glare she took straight to the brain when he whipped around to face her, her heart stopped for a nanosecond.

It was such an intense glare he gave her with his obsidian eyes that were now bleeding in the color of glowing ruby and being half lidded while standing out above everything else, in perfect contrast to his alabastrine skin that was glowing enhanced by the warm moon reflecting into the droplets percolating from his sticky hair to his cheeks, that made Sakura choke on air.

She took a trembling step backwards only to feel a neatly cut stone poke on her back and she involuntarily pressed her palms against the edge under the water, unable to look away and it was not entirely because Sasuke looked like ready to leash to her and keep his promise, but because the way he looked was something that she has never seen in her entire life.

An impossible immixture of pure malice and a sensuality that was basically overflowing through the way he looked like, with his flawless regal features now taking a disheveled appearance giving him just the right dosage of a bad guy dangerous aura and that rebellious infuse that made any woman wet between her legs, was making him absolutely _irresistible_ to the eye.

Sakura was not the type of girl to ogle handsome men and never once has she felt the touch of lust and desire for the opposite gender simply because she has led the life of a hermit, far from anything corrupt, carnal and deprived, so she was someone pure, untrained and objective from this point of view, but everything about Sasuke was so explicit, so absolute and so goddamn irresistible that she simply found herself bursting into flames, despite the fact that the air was cold and the water was freezing, she stopped feeling the iciness around.

Around everything.

A strangled sound erupted from her throat at high pitch which sounded something along the lines of 'Sorry' but it was so incoherent that she wasn't sure that Uchiha has caught it right and even if he did, his killing aura wasn't showing it and nor was he fazed by it.

If he kills this woman with his bare hands, will that automatically send him straight into the Pits of Hell without getting into the Purgatory first? Sasuke briefly wondered while those blazing Sharingan suffused orbs were set solely on the woman before him.

She was drenched and trembling like a kitten in the rain and now that he had his Uchiha bloodline limit engaged, he could depict every single detail about her entire mimics and nothing of her gestures remained unnoticed, not even the sharp inhales of air and the falls and rises of her chest.

Chest that in her haste to get out of the water, she hasn't realized that the kimono`s belt came loose around her waist and did less than nothing to cup her mounds in place, in return, revealing a generous amount of cleavage as the two folds creased by a golden sewing on each sides of the V skimmed along her collarbones and shoulders and undraped half of her pert breasts, stopping right at her nipples which were hard like diamonds because of the sudden change in temperature and molding under the fine clothes, protruding from the material.

And just like his own chemise was glued to his frame and enhanced every contours of his muscular body, hers was ten times enhanced by the way his _mother`s_ clothes were stuck on _her_ body and for the love of all the Deities that were laughing hard at him right now, how was it possible for him to find this connection between the angelic images of the motherly affection and this woman`s looks, akin to something freaking _erotic_?

He must be insane. Or maybe the cold water made his neurons in the brain freeze, so he wasn't thinking straight.

God damn it, more than he loathed the Priestess for dragging him into the freaking koi fishes pond and make him wet and dirty, Sasuke hated her for how incredibly _tempting_ she looked like and albeit the fierce personality and the warrior playing within the depths of those incredibly vitreous chartreuse eyes, she fit perfectly into the role of an obsequious woman by the way she stood wet and so ripen in curves, naked in his koi fishes, being the prisoner under his command, into his house that was so far out of any sign of civilization and any eye which might witnessed them was far out of reach and this entire picture was the perfect scenario of a very intimate and concupiscent scene.

Even he could feel it, it was undeniable. The way Sakura stood absolutely rooted in place holding his gaze and her nymph body and the ivory porcelain and virgin rose skin glowing before him in all its supplely of her silk organza softness almost had Fugaku`s youngest son lose it for real.

He was still a man –a tired full blooded young _Uchiha_ male, and despite all the stupid rumors circulating about him, he _felt_ the physical attraction and it was roaring like a howling beast back from the pits of his stomach pushing him into giving in to the sin and relinquish to those dark thoughts that started to form into his head.

His mind was far from being _pure_ and unlike Sakura, he proved to be bolder with his actions. Sasuke himself couldn't believe that everything he could see in this moment was envisioning himself throwing that woman out of the pond, rip off the clothes that were sticking to her in that translucent way that made everything stick to her every curve, and _have_ her hard and animalistic right there on the grass in front of the veranda.

Blinking once slowly so as he was collecting his scattered thoughts out of where they were drifting to hysteria, Sasuke gave her one hard intense perusal from head to her waist, insisting on her almost nude chest where the swell of her breasts was rounded deliciously and glistening by the droplets falling between her cleavage like diamonds on her silky skin, a stare that burned Sakura`s mind and she felt the incandescence of his stare scorching every cell of her body while her captor wasn't even touching her.

She barely held in a shiver to course to her and make her shudder and this time she wasn't sure that it was because of the cold water around. Why was he looking at her like that? She couldn't ever begin to understand what was running through his mind at the moment.

He gave nothing on the outside, not a single muscle was pulled on his gorgeous features, he stood there absolutely detached and seemingly relaxed save for those delicious sculpted muscles protruding through his clothes and his hard that were slightly narrowed and studying her.

When she snapped back out of that Sasuke induced trace and realized _where_ exactly was his orbs focusing on, Sakura inhaled sharply once and quickly covered her modesty by crossing the folds of the wet kimono back on her bare chest, breaking his gaze.

It was in this moment when Sasuke himself has gotten a slap back into reality, shook his head once more to cease away all the graphic explicit things that he would do to her while she was so tropical and peregrine with her exotic nymph features and imagine her writhing under him in pleasure, clicked on his tongue in annoyance because she was capable to stir him without even trying, fine-combed a hand through his hair to calm his nerves and floated to the edge of the pond, easily pulling himself out of it, unlike Sakura who failed miserably twice in a row.

"Oh my Kami…" Her cheeks were having a bright perusal and they were itching as the lobes of her ears resembled two ripen red apples in shade, placing her hands down her face to quench that fever, mumbling under her breath.

"Are you coming or not?"

"W–What?"

A hand was outstretched to her and she shakily placed her palm into his one and as soon as she did that, Sasuke tighten his hold on her and pulled her easily out of the pond like she weighed nothing at all.

She felt like a fur like not having one single bone into her body and she was not that small in height to begin with, but her body was diaphanous like a melody of colors and spring flowers.

"T-Thank you…" Sakura uttered pathetically while Sasuke kept on holding on her hand as long as it took her knees not to jitter anymore and steady on her feet, then let her go abruptly making her inwardly miss the warmth that his body was providing.

How come everything around was so cold about him, starting with his heart, but his skin was so warm like the very essence of fire that coursed along his vessels like his chakra affinity. Then something even more ridiculous happened in the moment when Sasuke turned around to get to the front door and halt in his moves, frozen like he has been struck by lightning.

Sakura, who was quickly traipsing along his shadow nearly bumped her nose between his shoulder blades, barely stopping dead on her heels, a question mark lingering above her head and her emerald orbs drew into a semi frown.

"What is it? What's the matter?" her voice barely a caress of a whisper against his eardrums dared a bit shakily. Suddenly something about his general aura turned confusing and pretty awkward in a way that Sakura couldn't describe.

But when Sasuke abruptly jerked his entire body like he had a brain seizure and literarily shoved his hand into the front of his pants, Sakura swore that her entire body combusted. Her emerald orbs nearly popped out of their sockets as her jaw hit the ground with a thud and she took a shaky step backwards.

"The fuck–" She heard him bit back a vicious curse which came out as half of an incoherent mumble and half of a groan as he continued to wind his hips in a very ostentatious manner and shove his hand down his pants like he was… _feeling_ himself up and down his–

–What?! Did he lose something _there_? Sakura slapped her forehead two times to alleviate such a stupid hunch to traipse over her brain. She seemed to have a very deprived Inner Sakura snickering like a goblin inside her mind, because it was screaming at her that she liked the way Uchiha _moved._

Seeing how his hand was dropped into his black nin pants like looking for something and sliding his hand along his thighs –which was already pretty difficult task by the way they were stuck to him like glue, and not to mention that every single _bulk_ and crest of his masculine body became visible and got a more precise contour, Sakura nearly choked on her words, stammering worse than the Hyuga heiress Hinata. "W-What a-are you doi–"

And she nearly had a heart attack when Sasuke swiveled on his heel and whipped to her like a swift ballerina, with his hand halfway outside his pants, clenching his maxillaries so hard that his temples might pop up any moment and his orbs were spitting fire as they were downcast to where he was… _searching._

Emerald orbs followed the point of interest, sliding along with his hand and it was then when she realized that something was trashing and _fluttering_ into his pants, just under his chiseled abdomen muscles and coming right between his thighs where a certain _part_ of his body was and when it nearly popped from his pants, she palmed her eyes comically like a child watching adult movies.

But curiosity made her take a peep through her palms just in time to see Sasuke curse aloud once again and this time she has seen the source of his problem. And while his cheeks got an almost invisible tinge of rose, he removed his hands from under the elastic band of his pants and tousle something into the pond, hearing it land with a splash behind her.

Turning around, she gasped aloud again when she realized that Sasuke… had a koi fish into his pants. And when she peeled her orbs from the poor creature that has been released from sliding along Uchiha`s thighs, looking back to Sasuke, his seething expression, the way he was basically blowing fire through his nostrils and was clenching his teeth, watching her in a way that promised permanent impalement, but at the same time having a rosy shade of embarrassment painting his alabastrine high cheekbones and his earlobes… she broke down in hysterics.

"Hahaha!" She started to laugh so loud and so unhinged, with hands coiling around her tummy as she bent down to withstand that tension in her abdomen, tears prickling in the corners of her squeezed shut lids and her lisp spread from ear to ear, laughing at _him_ in the face.

He just stared at her stupefied. Sakura had a finger outstretched to him and she barely managed to crook an eyebrow half open to peep at him while mumbling something completely intelligible between her cackles. "Y-You h-had a –hahaha– koi fish into your –hahahaha– pants!"

That stupid sleek creature must have floated through his clothes and snuck into his pants and the moment it started to trash just in _that_ sensitive part that was slightly engorged from the temperature and the thoughts that the woman who was filling the silence with a childish laughter, making his condition even worse.

The embarrassment and the disgrace was by far one of the most humiliating that Sasuke ever experienced and that was saying a lot since the king of coldness and the man who hid his emotions like an iceberg barely put himself into such stupid situations.

It was all because he wasn't being enough alert with the Priestess; she was making him act out of character and her clumsiness was contagious. She was just like Naruto –two idiots annoying the fuck out of him. Good _God_ …

"Stop damn laughing." He barely kept his composure as his fists turned purple white from the way he was shaking with rage, clenching his fists on his sides. But the reverse psychology always applied with such simple creatures, for she started to laugh even harder and Sasuke briefly wonder whether her face will crack in half at some point.

How could anyone be so genuinely amused in such circumstances? There was nothing funny around to laugh about and Sasuke was hardly the most entertaining person in the world and yet… this Priestess was visibly shaking and exuding such a solar energy with her laughter alone, that Sasuke briefly wondered whether he lost his goddamn mind or he was victim of a very skillful Genjutsu.

That`s it! He couldn't take this anymore, this woman was driving him crazy with her constant outburst, with the sincere –too sincere words that traipsed out of her mouth when she opened it, with her constant mood swings and unanticipated outré behavior, Sasuke got sick and tired of it.

And this is why in the very next instant, before any human eye could catch a glimpse of his shadow spanning to her, Sakura found herself being slammed against a wall, with Sasuke pinning her hands on either side of her head, knocking the wind out of her lungs.

And _that_ made her laugh die completely and any trace of amusement left her mien in a heartbeat. He had no idea of what he wanted to do with her as he trapped her between his chiseled stormy body and the wall beside, but something in him reacted to her –and not entirely because she was laughing at him, insulting his ego and pride. And god only knew that Uchihas had an overdose of that.

* * *

But the thing that Sasuke didn't count on was how briskly the air around their twined shadows got electric and charged with a sparkling chemistry twinkling like fireflies into the starry night and more demanding, like expecting something to happen between the two of them, a thing that slipped through their fingers like golden sand.

It was an unexpected intimacy that neither foreseen nor expected, but it overwhelmed them in an effulgence of convoluted feelings and if Sakura froze entirely completely narcotized and benumbed before the strange sensations that overflow through her entire body, claiming her ration and every thump of her heart, Sasuke completely fought to quench it and quell it until it got nullified.

He didn't expect to land themselves in this fragment of an unanticipated intimacy when he threw her into the wall, shadowing her form like the sun blinding the feeble dragonfly.

At least she stopped talking altogether and this lenient silence that fell like a veil between them was welcomed.

Albeit, it was not the type of silence aimed for relaxation and collecting his thoughts in deep meditation, no, this was the type that felt heavy on the chest in a bubbling pleasurable feeling of waiting for something badly and anticipating to have a taste, one that was aimed between people who had a _thing_ for each other; mostly lovers. Which they clearly aren't.

While Sasuke kept on pressing his chest onto Sakura`s giving her no room to shy away from him –not that she was physically or mentally capable to do so, watching her with an inscrutable look in his now obsidian eyes which reversed back from the Sharingan to the idiosyncratic shade of the Uchiha clan, the Priestess was barely keeping herself from melting into hot caramel into the wall behind and for once she was grateful that she was leaning against something solid and that Sasuke was keeping her steady within his grasp, otherwise she would have slide along the wall.

Something powerful and indescribable has been awoken to life within the vault of her chest the moment Sasuke has pressed his body against hers and pinned her with his eyes alone –orbs that were beautiful beyond words and mystique like the fading radiance of the moon above, deceiving and unfathomable, but still mesmerizing and ethereal.

There was an invisible force like a rope maneuvering her to lift up her pointed chin to look him in the eyes and her entire spirit, despite her body remaining frozen in that position, seemed to be leaning forward towards Sasuke, inch by inch and every heartbeat turned into an irresistible distance melting between the two of them; she felt it whenever she tried to breathe air in vain, she perceived it when her heart missed a beat from its normal harmony, she felt it reverberating like a voltage along her spine and residing on her lower back and down her bellybutton where a lump started to form deep inside her body, hot and boiling like a mini supernova, scorching and aching her and yearning to be extinguished.

Suddenly her senses seemed to be invigorated and energized, going haywire and she became alert of every single whisper of the nature around her, starting with her own heart`s frenzy and Sasuke`s body pressed so intimately on hers.

Every single contour and sharp swell of his carved chest and abdomen burned against her damp freezing skin and the desire to free her hands off his rather loose and relaxed grasp burned her mind and turned into an astounding craving, to feel those muscles hard, hot and ebbed into his alabaster skin without the hinges of his damp clothes.

Not only that, but there was just a bit of tantalizing distance between their hips and since Uchiha was taller than her, she could clearly feel the slight bulge into his pants radiate and pulsate of vigor, sturdiness and so much masculinity against her abdomen, despite the fact that they were not physically touching, and it almost had her reel with wanting.

Sakura had this unexplainable urge to do something about that electric distance between them and unite their hips together.

She yearned to feel _him_ against her skin and even though she had no idea of what she might accomplish by bringing their bodies even closer together, there was a bonfire that seemed to be resonating somewhere from afar and beckoned her to inch closer to this man, burn that small distance between them and _feel_ him as he stood before her, raw, primal and without boundaries.

Any fragment of air between them suddenly turned too much to handle. She wanted Sasuke touching her in ways undefined by her comprehension but logic was now a faraway figment suspended in the time that refused to tick the minutes between them.

It was not attraction generated by this impulse that women had at some degree to be dominated and submissive to a man, from the beginning of time.

She was not attracted to him in the manifestation of a distorted syndrome of a prey becoming lured to her captor because even she knew as much as to comprehend that this was plainly dumb and would led to mismatched feelings and only complicate things more.

No… whatever was happening and whatever she was feeling, was definitely not the result of a mistake, of a misunderstood feeling or of something trivia that could be easily explained by her current situation or a childish infatuation. She was too skilled, too wise, too innocent and too trained to be fooled like this; by her own mind which was versed in the arts of Meditation and Martial Arts.

This was something else, something more uncorrupted, _pure_ and having a solid foundation underneath. This thing that she was feeling was something with a history behind it, the result of blood, tears, passion and ardent emotions.

Sakura felt it too, she was aware of it all, she knew this sentiment like the verses of an Ancient Hymn, the lyrics of a romantic symphony, she knew it all but she didn't have a name for it.

Maybe it was because she has seen in Sasuke more than the others did, and it made Sakura so absorbed into the fascination that this complicated man represented but it was not _only_ this.

She knew it all too well that there must be something more that was coursing along her spine and made her skin warm up from the sheer radiance that his rippling muscles provided, making her ticklish in a pleasurable way.

He was heating her up, providing warmth and sizzling like a soothing camp fire, scorching brightly in vivid flames and embers that couldn't be tamed by anyone and she nearly sighed contently at the incredible feeling.

If he would have released her hands that curled in weak fists to somehow sustain that tension in her body, she didn't know if she would have been able to hold back and not wrap her hands around his neck and pull him closer in a tight embrace.

Just to embrace that source of a passionate fire which seemed to burn inside him and exude on the outside through his sculpted body. There was a fluttering feeling inside her chest resembling the wings of a Phoenix fire spreading free from its golden cage and soaring to the sky in a divine flight of redemption and liberation, which made her drown into a feeling of happiness and anticipation.

A constricting knot started to tighten into the depths of Sakura`s belly travelling low into her abdomen and resting into places that have never reacted in such a manner, into the crevice between her thighs.

Her inner walls pulsated and started to constrict her almost painfully when Sasuke dipped his head down to come in eye level with her and she started to feel his cool peppermint breath blowing against her lips, but it was the type of pain which wasn't harmful, on the contrary it sent al electric sensation all along her spine and limbs and ultimately travelled as millions of vibrations between her nether lips.

And this new sensation which was purely physical, begged to be alleviated by someone and fast. Her chemise became heavy and suddenly there was a tight ball travelling down her inner walls and residing into her sacred places, aching, moistening her, burning and screaming for being _pushed_ up and back inside her.

The feeling to explode into million bonfires in the sky and burn like a scorching torch has never been stirred before like it was now and Sakura nearly let an indecent sound erupt from her lips when Sasuke pressed onto her more.

The look inside her vitreous orbs that suddenly mirrored the flames roaring into the depths of her most sacred regions, making the emeralds inside shimmer like diamonds mirroring into the flames of a candle, were telling him everything.

Sasuke knew what she was feeling even before she had the chance to wonder it herself and crack her skull for an explanation; he knew exactly what she wanted and what _he_ could do to suppress those sensations and offer her _release,_ he was all aware of every single move of her body, and it amused him terribly.

His eyes shuffled along the clothes she were in a sensual embrace of curves, the penumbras falling on her chest highlighted the ample falls of her chest and hips going lower, trying to conjure up the mental images of her Shadow Clone and guess if that perfect replica of hers will look and _feel_ like the real her, but it was all in vain because in that moment, he wasn't paying attention to such details, his purpose being different than now.

His fingertips were tickling and burning in desire to run his palm along every curve, every swell, every contour of her diaphanous violin body, feel her arch against him with all the splendor of her feminine curves in the elegant shape of a slim glass flute and respond to every desirous command that he sends with his touch alone.

To have this Priestess dance like a helpless marionette maneuvered by him, while he showered and tasted every inch of her nacre skin with his lips, feel the taste of her breasts while he cupped them with his palm kneading them and suckle on her nipples to taste that cherry flavor that her entire body was exuding, and then probe his way along her chest and belly and ultimately spread her open wide to him and run his tongue between her petals, corrupting this Priestess in unimaginable ways while she will helplessly moan like a puppet by _his_ touches alone.

The fact that she was his prisoner only fueled the dark desires and the demon inside him only snickered in pure satisfaction at that concept of possessing her body _and_ soul and make her addicted to him, while he remained in full _control_ of how much to get and how much to _give_.

And those insane and lascivious things running through his mind were making it all the most intense and interesting to have her here in his house.

Why not relinquishing into vice for a bit and venture into that path, while kissing the dignity and the traditional strict upbringing of his Clan goodbye?

Seeing the look in her eyes, coated in lust without her even realizing what her eyes were conveying to him, Sasuke couldn't help himself but feel his own body burn a few degrees more and he was positive that neither of them could feel the coldness of their wet clothes stick to their forms anymore.

Those shimmering jadeite diamonds were welled in heavy lust and the need, the silent pleading and the way she was still preserving her incredible purity felt like the sweetest drug empowering him and got him drunk of her thirstily and craving for more.

His own black sapphire orbs burst into flames seemingly coming alive and having a conscience of their own, while they became more intense and captivating, sending burning shivers along her spine.

With only THAT look in his eyes, he inched closer and she started to shriek back melting into the wall behind "You," Those were the first words that came out of his mouth and he spoke so low, like a sensual bass guitar`s strings vibrating with a nocturne lullaby making her shiver in delight. "are such a troublemaker. A walking disaster."

She was dangerous. This woman was far more dangerous than Kumo shinobi; at least they didn't manage to land a good blow on him.

Her innocence was dangerous. But his words felt more like a delicious tantalize than an insult per se, because for once his tone was not cynical or sarcastic.

"W-What are you doi–" Seeing that he kept on inching closer to her, every single inch that melted as his onyx eyes became clouded by a blinding lust and something _else_ shimmering inside the silvery onyx irises, and she couldn't help but feel her own lids drag upon her equally hyaline emerald eyes and before she realized what she was breathing to him, his name fell from her lips and colliding to his own. "S-Sasuke."

This was the first time that he has ever heard her breathe his name –the first time when someone has said his name the way she did, so melodious and warm, so tender and remotely diffident like she was probing the resonance of it and his reaction, and for a moment he froze entirely.

It was into such dramatic if she learned his name, he knew she did courtesy to those imbeciles that he called friends when they approached him before the battle with that Darui fella, but it didn't mean that he was prepared to her using it and especially not in _this_ circumstances.

A demure look was playing in her eyes while she spoke even softer, soft as a suave tremble of a violin, and he felt it clearly the warmth of her breath fanning upon his lips; he didn't move an inch. "Sasuke... _Uchiha_ Sasuke…"

She quickly added his surname to his elegant given name, and the more she whispered it, the more his heart started to pound faster and harder on his chest, and he hated herself for how she chanted it, like a spell known by only a Priestess, like a mantra aimed to charm him, to hypnotize him, to wrap an invisible curse around his neck and bend him to her command and not the other way around to make him her prisoner and reverse the roles in such a sinful tempting and mischievous way.

She hated her for saying his name, but he couldn't get this feeling in his belly craving for her to say it again or even better _breathe_ it again, _scream_ it in delight and use it to _beg_ him, plead with him and even moan it like a decadent angel falling from the grace of Heaven.

"This is what they call you right? At first I really thought it was Teme because this is how your friend with the hair like gold called you this morning, but then I heard your friends spelling it clearly. I learned your name… _Sasuke_ Uchiha." _But you don't know mine_ , were her unspoken words.

And even if she didn't say it with her lips, she spoke through the lucent in her eyes, orbs so expressive like million stars in the sky twinkling and shimmering and Sasuke knew what she was thinking about. She had an advantage, because he didn't know _hers._

Well, not that he would bother his pretty mind with something so trivia. Calling her by the rightful title of a _Priestess_ was more amusing for him because it clearly emphasized her corrupted state and the decaying status, while her soul and path in life starting to collide to the woman in her, which he conveniently pulled by her _marionette_ strings, in response to the man in him.

Blinking once, pulling back just a bit from her lips to look her in the eyes –and tease her more as he was clearly seeing how she fought to inhale more oxygen and her body got fidgety like trying to get closer to him, realization that she has just insulted him hit his foggy mind.

Sasuke watched her without any expression only blinking at how she probed that stupid nickname like she discovered nirvana. "Yes, this is how I am going to call you of you don't want me to call you by your rightful name because technically you ARE a bastard!"

Dear Lord, hear this woman turn into the FEMALE dobe? Was Kami punishing him for all the sins he has committed by sending a Priestess to him to atone? Because she was more like annoying the fuck out of him instead of showing him the road to Heaven -he of course will take the opposite road from there because Hell was reserved especially for him.

His gorgeous features fell into a semi frown while he changed personalities in a blink of an eye. This woman was paradox, an anomaly. How in the world was it possible for him to lust and despise the same woman, just as ardently at the same time? He must be losing his mind, she was doing something to him which he couldn't see.

It couldn't be a Jutsu because her chakra was restrained and she was not even trying to drag more and fight his technique; he felt it that she was relaxed and her chakra was nullified. Then how in the world was she _toying_ with him then?

And this stupid weird ass Jutsu… no wonder that only someone as sick and hit in the head as the excentric renegade genius Orochimaru could come up with something so sadistic and unpredictable.

Not only Sasuke was high alert of Sakura`s bodily callings and the way her own desires and unfulfilled fantasies percolated from her very aura in a silent plea and invitation, but he could also perceived her emotions through their interlaced connection and not that he as the caster of it was so close to her, the resonance was at maximum.

His chakra around her arms was subtle and fine like a slim bracelet, but it was glowing brighter and felt warmer than even and he knew –damn it he _felt_ it, that it felt pleasurable for Sakura as well.

And just as it was ricocheting and trapping them in that twisted cornucopia of feelings, she felt what was churning inside himself as well, using her experience and sensibility as a Priestess to depict them, decipher them, translate them and sneak under his skin.

Get closer to his heart and this pissed him off terribly. She made him feel more bipolar than Jūgo.

"What did you mean back then?" Suddenly a question formed on his thin abundant lips as a gust of wind blew into the distance and it was for the first time when it felt rich and perfumed with a floral fragrance and not dusty and hollow, like the atmosphere of a ghost abandoned town like before.

Emerald eyes shone under the dim light as Sakura traced a sleek tongue along her lips to moisten them, her mouth burning dry and thirsty. "Back... when exactly?"

Another moment of quietude thickened the tension between them, until Sakura was positives that she will not be able to breathe anymore because of the lump forming into the back of her throat; she gulped once trying to alleviate it to no avail.

The more she basket into that quietness and the more her gaze twined with Sasuke`s face as he still stood motionless one breathe away from her, the more the air around suddenly felt like it was insufficient.

It was Sasuke the one to shockingly break that stillness again, speaking low, shivery low and seemingly calmer. "You don`t want to give up on me," He recited the words she offered to him earlier that day form his flawless memory. "This is what you told me. Why is that?"

Something dangerous and edgy was present in his leathery voice, albeit he sounded composed, something that Sakura couldn't decipher. Was he angry at her blunt declarations? It was not like she has declared her love to him, for Kami`s sake; she just offered her help as a… Priestess.

And suddenly realization hit her and once again, her surmise has been correct from the start. Sakura knew as the sky was blue that Uchiha hated any form of commitment or bonds, for the sole fact that he branded any connections as something frail, feeble and fragile which ultimately enfeeble _him_ and crush his resolve.

But his extreme alienation from anything that harbored feelings and bonds was stupid by definition, extremely stupid and naive and it was quite interesting how someone with his intelligence could be so dense and afraid of something so powerful.

Feelings meant power; it was the greatest form of power. No other form will ever begin to compare and everything else is subpar to the limitless powers of a heart.

His best friend Naruto Uzumaki seemed to have taking this fact straight, while Sasuke was clearly denying it all.

Even if he embraced the darkness entirely, something might _bloom_ inside the crepuscule, if this is the type of strength that he looked for. After all, feelings knew now boundaries, not even for the realm of darkness.

"Because it is my duty as the Prieste–"

"–bullshit." He injected sternly not wanting to be served such a pathetic excuse; not when it was crystal clear that she would get her way out of every feeling that _she_ might have by conveniently putting it past her role as whatever the heck it meant to be a Priestess and pray into a Shrine. This, in Sasuke`s vision was cowardliness.

A knot formed down her throat again –or it never went away whenever she tried to gulp, and she wanted to say something to him in return, sensing the reticence and the lack of faith in his husky inflection, but no words came to her mouth.

His stare turned into something else; stormy, electric, wild and unleashed like a violent hurricane washing over the calm waters and it made her want to scurry out of there and escape him, but she couldn't move a single muscle in her body, being trapped by his eyes and lacerated by those words.

 _Marionette..._

His oyx orbs were pinned on her emerald ones but she couldn't hold that kind of gaze and quickly eschew form him and instead of looking him the eyes –eyes filled with so much reproach, mockery and hatred, her eyes flew to his body and it was not because her mind was filled with deprived things while in the presence of such a fine sculpted young man that kept her pressed into a wall, but because of the scorching radiating warmth that got her tickles all her limbs and this confused Sakura terribly.

Just like she was being an oxymoron in his eyes, Sakura too couldn't comprehend this duality of feeling that he managed to elicit inside her because when he pinned her with that intense glare, she felt like all the life force has been drained from her system but at the same time she gloated in delight at the warmth and the unexpected sense of security and _comfort_ that his closeness provided.

 _He_ as the embodiment of darkness was the only source of _warmth_ around here and this was something very confusing. One cannot have such mismatched feelings for someone, it made no sense.

She was not like this and she was definitely not having _feelings_ for him. This was ridiculous. Unbeknownst to her, Sasuke himself was just as pretty much in denial but unlike the Priestess, he knew exactly what feelings tried to nuzzle inside him, ones that he sternly rejected it.

"What do you know about me to be having such thoughts?"

She gulped again wetting her lips that felt thirsty and dry and this small involuntarily motion caught Sasuke`s eye that shifter to her luscious mouth. Unbelievable how Sakura cause such a reaction with such a simple apparently innocent action.

His chest was suddenly suffocating, his heart thumped faster in his chest, blood pump adrenaline through his muscles like he anticipated and exciting battle, and he absolutely hated this woman for making him feel all those useless things.

"You hide your REAL self because you are…" Sakura didn't miss the way something in his eyes stormed like a blizzard, but bravely she went on being hopelessly sincere; she wasn't lying and she wasn't afraid of darkness and hardship and not even his rejection and anger fazed her; a priestess had to be pure, and capable of both sacrifice and forgiving.

if his heart was dark then she had to maintain light for both of them. She would clearly lose if he dragged her into the darkness with him. Her spirit had to be stronger than her body. "...scared of _bonds_."

To let someone get close to him. Again, he didn't snap at her and she was yet to learn that Sasuke had a self-control like no one else. He will never be an easygoing flamboyant clown like Naruto, Kiba or Suigetsu, she won't ever see him openly declare what was inside his mind.

"Bonds..." he rolled his tongue upon those tenor inflection and his chest resonated like a guitar in the hands of a Latin guitar player, sensual and dark, but mesmerizing and debonair. "what good would something so paltry do to me? Such a vapid fake pretense of strength," his words in combination to the sun sinking behind the mountains bleeding red just like his Sharingan gave him an aura of both villainous and regal, such a breathtaking stupendous combination, just like she was a commixture of ineffable, purity and femineity puzzling him, so was Sasuke a fusion of nobility, elegance, grace, abominable power, darkness and antagonistic behavior. "is something I am in _no_ use of."

He once had those bonds and when they severed, it was like everything that made up his soul his very being has been torn from his chest, leaving an empty shell behind, an unfortunate helpless soul lost in a maze of unfamiliar shadows that didn't care about him at all.

It was a feeling worse than being dead; that to be benumbed, to have the world crumble and fall apart when he was at such a fragile age, incapable to understand why such a sacrifice had to be made for the sake of saving something bigger and seemingly more important and why was it _his_ family the one that had to die, and not someone else`s?

More importantly… why did someone have to die and how come no one has been capable to prevent it? To find a genius solution, a compromise, a liaison, a truce anything but the ultimate punishment?

So what good did those bonds to him now that they took away everything that was tangible and valuable in his life and left him dry, hollow and resentful? Wouldn't it have been better not to feel anything at all from the beginning, than suffer the way he did?

So why evoking those stupid useless figments and fell into lament and melancholy just because someone who went by the name of a Priestess was throwing words of wisdom at him and reduce him to the same little feeble 6 years old boy, who has witnessed his small bubble of paradise crumbling at his feet?

What a joke.

She inhaled those words that exuded off his lips, of his mind of his heart and especially with his eyes –eyes that were more expressive than anything else in the universe, speaking for themselves what lips refused to utter; he truly believed in his convictions, he embraced that darkness that solitude and just trying to feel the resonance and the significance of procrastinating from everything -from life itself, brought tears in her eyes.

Those emerald eyes... Sasuke found himself following every lucent in those eyes and he couldn't comprehend why; they were polished like jadeite gemstones, sparkling like refined diamonds under the flickering light of a candle, so sweet in form, so pure and so crystal like, something was written there and he found himself entrapped into that unexplainable net of dainty golden and emerald embroidery. Her eyes were so deep, so poetic, so untouchable and full of light, almost... _pleading_ with him.

The gentle moon rays were shimmering through her pink locks, making it seem like there were crystals sewed in her hair. The golden viridian embroidery in her eyes were absorbing the light reflecting so much purity, so much sincerity that Sasuke was half tempted to believe in those eyes himself.

How come they were outside and yet the air has never been brimmed with so much voltage, the space never seemed so constricting, so engulfing, Sasuke was not having any form of physical contact with her even though he was close enough to her bubble so as she felt the virility, the power of his chiseled body oozing an mesmerizing with, beckoning her to step closer and touch him.

He was pinning her with his magnetic presence, trapping her with a stare like she never touched the ground. Her thoughts floated on filigree rainbows by his shadow that was exuding from the sunset borrowing the glow of the starlight night sky, as he simply stared at her, deeply, irresistibly hallucinating, impossibly to glance askew.

Those obsidian eyes... She couldn't even place the color in his orbs; there was such a regal shade of onyx, but at the same time silvery and platinum diffused shades ringed the crown around his irises like two moons reflecting a mysterious light.

They were speaking the words alone they had a soul of their own; she didn't know how to read his orbs, they didn't even reflect Sasuke's soul, they may be reflected their own conscience.

Sasuke didn't have a heart and if he did it was so deeply engulfed in a crepuscule without escape route. It was impossible to reach so deep, so dangerous where he strayed from anything, she needed something stronger to penetrate inside.

What could be a heart's lifesaver in a world pinned by hatred and ambitions? Memories... Memories about those feelings have those long forgotten small wishes, a strong growth desire coming from coming heart, a memory of genuine tears, the memory of an embrace, of love of care.

A **promise** deeper than hatred itself would suffice. He felt the pendulum of her heart ticking in a frenetic cadence trapped in time, pounding between his shoulder blades where her chest was pressed tightly.

So irresistibly genuine so, so immersed in an oasis of pleas and so many memories flipping into the web of lies begging to be set free from their contingents where he locked everything and everyone. What the heck did she… " _What_ do you want from _me_ Priestess?"

She gasped silently when his hand slide from the wall to curl around her tiny waist, bringing her flush into his chest with their noses tapped against one another, his voice being gentler than a breeze in the dessert grazing the crystalline particles of sand, raising tiny spirals into the ocean of gold.

"What?" His fingertips dug into her small back, pressing on her skin and bringing her even closer to his body.

Sakura felt how fine-grained his constitution grazed and pressed over hers in such a pleasant way that she literarily yenned to succumb into that hotness and melt into his body; everything about his fire made hers stir and burn her pits into ashes.

How easily was for him to **break** this woman, Sasuke nearly smirked in his newfound demonic side that was rubbing its hands in an elfin mischievous manner that only a demon would act at how the Priestess was reacting to him.

He might be troubled, frustrated and vexed by how she made him act so out of character and so in close contact to someone when he hardly approached people like this, but something in her reactions, in the idea of her losing bits and bits of her purity every time her fingers curled into balls as he kept her hands pinned up to the wall, like itching to wander along the contours that her eyes was following.

She wanted to _touch_ him, to feel him more, to do what the _woman_ in her beckoned her to do and act in a way that her strong spirit denied her to –because it was not her role as a Priestess to act so libertine and give in to sin when she was supposed to suppress it.

Her spirit... her spirit was stronger; she was mentally stronger than the gossamer body and her eyes were open windows to her soul.

"Tell me." Sasuke demanded her, but something about his tone was rather gentler and not commanding.

"I-I can bring _light_ back into this place." She responded without any doubts into her filigree voice beyond a whisper. The gust of wind traipsed through their hair in a melodic meandering resonance. She went on then, seeing the look in his eyes which sternly urged her to go on, demanding an explanation. "I can take away the darkness."

Because she was the Priestess of Tea and because she was the only one to care enough to try and fight a way to give life to a decaying place; to give him what has been lost.

Sakura was the only one willing to show him a pathway from that Hell and corruption, to the intangible place of salvation and justice –to Heaven.

Something... _something_ about her words and her sincerity, the fact that she never once reproached him that he abducted her, never complaining about the fact that she was a prisoner, like she has been expecting him solely for this purpose... _scared_ him worse than any enemy. Like she knew him and his heart.

"Light," his husky vibrations weren't much louder than her own and his voice always sent shivers along her limbs; the resonance of that unmistakable velvet baritone was something special that she hasn't heard ever before. His eyes narrowed and blazed with reticence, enclosure, he was scared of her words to touch him, his walls were up and wrapping around her genuine feeble attempt to reach to him. "keep it for _yourself_."

She shook her hear defying his entire ontology. Sasuke`s words weren't matching what he truly felt, this was a **mask** , one of the many he wore, this man was the host of the **masquerade** and he knew every dance and every melody by heart, they were playing by _his_ will, he was the master puppeteer and everyone else was his **_marionette._**

Uchiha was so close to her now, the tip of their noses were grazing each other and thus Sakura saw everything in his eyes, every shade of onyx spoke another story, his eyes were clear like black sapphires.

Heavens they were so beautiful, so emotionally charged, so turbulent and blizzard; she yenned to touch those eyes, those beautiful eyes, eyes were the pathways to ones heart to the inner self, eyes never lied, they could never, eyes were God's gift to humans to understand each other.

Words were tamed to speak the lies that a troubled mind made up by hardship and society`s rejection, but the eyes cannot be caged, they were free in spirit and soul.

He didn't blink once like not wanting to lose that enthralling eye contact, keeping her into that sweet hypnotic trance where any outer sensation paled in comparison to how electrified she felt and how mad her frenetic heart was thumping like a drum inside her chest.

Sasuke`s fingers uncoiled from her wrists and slide along her bare hands that were revealed from under the loose sleeves of the kimono which rode up to her elbows, dripping wet and slide along the wall beside her, following the outline of her body but not touching her, just keeping her trapped between him and the bricks, leaving wet finger prints along the cold surface, wetting his thin lips like fumbling to say something –anything, but something prevented him to.

Her hands were free now and it took her some time to get used to that sudden coldness that hit her now bare wrists that were no more into his warm touch.

Before she could stop herself, the Priestess and the skilled kunoichi have been overshadowed by the _woman_ inside and Sakura brought her fingertips to the ridge of his cheeks were his features took that unmistakable genteel contour, tapping his face in a caress so recherché that it made him almost flinch away but he couldn't because her eyes in conjunction to her ethereal tap of her fingers right under his eyes filled with a luminous glow and he truly thought that she had diamonds in her eyes; they twinkled like a veil of stars in a starlight ocean on the velvet night sky.

He couldn't help it no matter how much he fought against it, Sasuke leaned forward unconsciously slowly, predictable inch by inch, breath by breath until their heartbeats started to sing the same song in canon, synchronizing their resonance.

"S-Sasuke what–" She felt the warmth exuding from his moist tempting lips, she saw his onyx orbs cast upon her own that were half unfolded to inhale more gulp of oxygen but it refused to enter her lungs, she saw him tilt his head she saw the glossy look in his eyes volteface to something else she saw... she saw everything and yet... she didn't react.

Sasuke hushed her darkly, basically whispering like the cool wind and by this time she was beyond hot and burning. "–learn to keep that mouth of yours shut when you are _supposed_ to."

Before she had the opportunity to gasp and bridle at his stern words, that skipped timing was just enough for him to crush his lips against hers, as his hands wrapped around her waist and shoulders, gluing their frames together in an almost desperate attempt to alleviate everything and fell into that sweet smothered oblivion that begged to be set free of its confinements, _kissing_ her with sweltering passion and abandonment, relinquishing into the savage thirst that sizzled inside his chest and tasting the ambrosia that her luscious lips served him in a cup, stealing every word, every breath and every heartbeat out of her person.

In the moment when Sakura gasped in pure shock at his unforeseen action, his lips glissaded over hers and Sasuke was provided full access to roll his tongue inside her warm mouth, and it was then when the last Uchiha thought that a bit of Paradise has been granted to a sinner like him in a teasing punishment to what he has been denied, tasting her and claiming a possession over her lips, petals that he was suckling passionately, with an ardor that he never would have guessed that it laid inert inside him.

But when she only tapped her quivering rose petals once against his like trying to respond but couldn't keep up with his calescent pace, and then stopped altogether with her small palms sidling along his chest and grazing him with her nails, freezing completely like she turned into stone and the moon has been swallowed by a cloud that resembled a claw of a monster throwing them in complete blankness, something inside him made Sasuke`s heart nearly stop beating.

A similar scene… in the _same_ house… his pounding temple while adrenaline hit him like an unleashed hurricane blazing with fury nearly had him lose his mind, reeling.

She fell limp into his body, with her emerald orbs squeezed shut, losing vitality and her lips bruised lilac red and still.

.

.

.

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A/N: Ok, as I have promised, this chapter has been entirely dedicated to my favorite pair in some sort of redemption for the previous chapter which has been more action oriented and lacked any romantic involvement. I truly hope that you guys enjoyed it and didn't find it exaggerated, out of place, awkward or the pace to be too fast.

By any means, please do not think that by the title of this chapter and the content of it, I am planning of making Sakura weaker now, more submissive and basically a toy falling for Sasuke in that cliché overused boring manner, no, not at all.

I plan to make them both struggle and being tortured by these new strong feelings that they deny or cannot comprehend and thus creating a solid foundation for their upcoming romance. So that when they actually start to get even more intimate with each other, those scenes will not seem forced and unnatural, especially since I fancy to pay attention to the characters` feelings and emotions.

Thank you guys for appreciating the previous chapter as well, I was afraid that you will get bored of this story by the way I paid too much attention to the fight between Sasuke, Naruto and the Kumo shinobi, but I took the liberty to pay homage to that incredible scene between their combined technique, so I wanted to use it in my story as well and also, reveal more about their organization and the members in it. I thought that bringing Kabuto into the group will make it even more interesting. Or at least, this is my intention.

As always, your reviews are giving me strength and inspiration to keep on going, so I dedicate this chapter to all my readers, to you guys who are always taking from your precious time to write some words in reply to my chapters and for every single of you who follow this story.

 **Guest**

 **anime1angel**

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 **jen1490**

 **Urbiggestfan** –no worries, you have not offended me in anyways, please do not think like this. Thank you for being so understanding.

 **Guest**

 **Iwhoreads**

 **MademoiselleRED**

 **hifi**

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 **ILoveSxS**

I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter as well. There is going to be more Sasuke and Sakura moments in the upcoming chapters, I promise. Thank you for still sticking with me and reading this story.

Till next time…


	10. Cosmic

**::CHAPTER X – Cosmic::**

* * *

An automatic impulse to wreathe his muscular arms around her lissome limp form has been triggered and overcame his mind that has fell prey to the same horror scene rewinding inside his mind and throwing Sasuke back in time cruelly triggering memories that he was desperately trying to subdue into a forgotten shelf of his conscience and making him almost relinquish into that feeling of despair again.

Her body felt like wrapped into a calescent fever as he gathered her possessively and almost desperately into his arms, breathing her in between his own gasps for air as Sasuke`s heart started to run like a comet being chased from the faraway galaxies and floating in vacuum at million miles per hour, when he took in the state the Priestess was in, and it was in the moment when his palms slide along the curve of her violin waist that was dotted in that dripping wet cold kimono and one enveloped her shoulders, has he realized that she was having a fever.

His moist lips unconsciously tapped over the glacé porcelain skin of her forehead to compare the temperature of her body to his own in the same manner as his mother Mikoto used to do when he was a small child plagued by flu in the season when all the buds of spring bloomed from under the last fragments of the snow, immediately cursing softly at how it burned his lips like she was a candle burning under the flicker of her own radiance. "Shit!"

Easily like she weighed nothing but a fur of a swan fluttering across the ripples of a lake, Sasuke maneuvered Sakura into his arms, taking her left hand in between his own to place it around his neck as he slide his right one under the back of her knees, collecting her diaphanous unresponsive form into his arm and carrying her bridal style to the front porch, kicking the door open with his leg not caring that he was marking it with the tip of his sandals, entering the intimacy of his twilling house.

His heart was pounding the frenetic rhythm of apprehension and panic, something that felt so alien for someone so level-headed and in full control over his emotions, but his mind kept on clinging to this concept that he absolutely wouldn't permit another living person to **die** on him in this house, for the spirits and the memory of the pain that were ebbed within the quiescent walls and floors as silent witnesses which wouldn't betray their source, howling the same petrifying and bloodcurdling hymn of tears and sorrow, never again.

"You just _had_ to fall into that damn koi fish's pond, you idiot… " He realized that he has mistreated this delicate creature with crystal wings and the fragility of a bell flower in the hands of the wind, depriving her of any protection from her Shrine and the majestic nature that played her home and protector, food, water and warmth and not to mention chakra, and she still has never shed a single tear, cursing him or complaining about his cold behavior, only being genuinely worried for his well-being and how to become the hand in the light outstretched to the sinner in the darkness, never once betraying fragments of selfishness and consider her own situation, until she collapsed under the weight and damnation of her own pure golden heart.

 _What a stupid fool_ , he kept on inwardly cursing her for being so pure and so delicate while heading upstairs to the Masters bedroom that once belonged to his parents and was now his room, as Sasuke`s steady heels tapped against the wooden stairs that echoed in an eerie resonance, enhancing the solitude or the lifeless house, but the last Uchiha`s thoughts were drifting to other horizons that to go into the philosophical and symbolic depths of the significance of that smothered silence trapped between those walls.

His keen eyes were expertly guiding him through the dusk of his walls like they provided a light of their own, not bumping on tripping on anything and not bothering to provide more illumination to that unfriendly still house, other than the fading lucent of the bright golden moon which was now claiming its august place into the den of the velvet night sky, shining into the room past the clean half opened windows.

Never once peeling his obsidian sapphires from her face, Sasuke placed the tiffany looking Priestess gently on the sateen sheets of his king sized bed, behaving in a way so delicate and elegant while letting her roll off his arms and this even stunned him, being uncharacteristically docile, concerned and suave with a woman, but something inside him that was as transcendental and cosmic as it was unexplored and coming straight from his men ancestors guided his every movements and the innate instinct to protect the vulnerable woman in pain overcome his dispassionate taciturn façade and for a moment, his mask fell prey to the whimpering of this creature.

Even as her lush lips which seemed so lifeless and lilac like she had violet flowers blooming along her silky petals and her sweaty skin was paler than a pearl in the ocean, she was still stellar and gossamer melodic like the dainty soar of a velvet butterfly and untouchable pure like the brightest star in the sky.

Beautiful.

Her lips parted as they quivered something that hasn't registered into Sasuke`s eardrums as he placed his left palm on the crown of her head, brushing away the damp fairy locks out of her forehead and temples, caressing her moon shaped face and grazing his knuckles over her high rubicund cheeks and she immediately leaned into his touch like a thirsty lotus flower searching for the spring of a mountain river.

Onyx eyes immediately reversed to a hypnotically fractal shape of ruby red glowing into the darkness as Sasuke cursed under his breath again for not being able to comprehend the missives that her delirious mind were conveying to him, unlocking his Sharingan to be able to penetrate the depths of her conscience and read the incoherence from her lips and immediately translate them into his mind with an unconscious easiness.

"P-Please…" She still kept her pure elegant mimics no matter how munch her body was churning in agony and her exquisite elegance and innocence made something fragile shatter inside his heart briefly, like million crystal pieces of a broken mirror reflecting the light that has been lost within the vault of his chest.

"W-Water…" her lips fought for fluency and coherence and albeit no words have been blown to him, his Sharingan translated it loud and clear, making the resonance of it ten times more pathetic and urgent into his mind.

Sakura will never know that she found herself in the same predicament as Kakashi but this time, she didn't have an ally, a close friend and a fellow comrade beside her and nor was she in the same shelter with a Leaf Jonin who was ready to risk her own life to protect him, no.

She was clasped between the inhospitable walls of an enemy`s renewed home who was keeping her as a prisoner and thus his behavior could have flipped in the spur of the moment, for Uchiha was clearly not Anko and his actions so far has been anything but friendly.

But what Sakura only assumed and never surmised was the fact that Uchiha Sasuke`s feelings towards her, as latent and fragile like the first leaves of the timid trees blooming in the spring as they were not, might have been even stronger than Anko`s concern over Kakashi`s condition and currently, she was safe here with him, in his house and under his tutelage.

Of course that she was thirsty, Sasuke rationed, because by the way her body that was probably freezing until now was burning like a torch and scorching her from inside out, every cell and pore of her body was pleading for the touch of cool water to tame down the fire dragon blowing into her system and fast.

Albeit there were Medic Nins among his group of rogue shinobi and one of them being very skilled in their profession and proficient in curing injured patients like Kabuto and Karin, Sasuke was hardly someone with medical experience but even he could recognize a fever and the early stages of a flu and this is the reason why he didn't rushed to call one of the aforementioned people to help him tend this Priestess, for he knew exactly that they had more urgent problems to deal with namely check on the injured comrades of their and the civilians.

This was something that he could handle no problem and if the situation became too complex for only him to tend, then he will not hesitate to summon one of them and command them to do their job and save her life.

He had to peel the wet cold clothes from her trembling form because they were probably one of the reasons while the Priestess was quivering like a **leaf** into the limbs of a zephyr wind carrying out to the horizon, looking so frail, breakable and cuddling with the equally cold bed sheets, and fast, for they were sticking to her form and helping in dropping her body temperature too fast, giving her those cold shivers.

"Don't you dare to take this the wrong way and blame me for this later on Priestess…" Sasuke growled low on the resonance of his husky voice box as he took a seat on the edge of the bad facing Sakura and quickly unknotted the ribbon that kept the folds of her kimono wrapped around her petite form, feeling like a total creep all of sudden for no reason, because this time, there was not a single indecent figment coursing along his spine or hitting the back of his mind attempting to stir arousing dark desire into his system.

Vaguely, Sasuke asked himself whether she wore lingerie underneath or anything at all and immediately a light rubicund tingle filled the regal bones of his cheeks and kissed his earlobes as he slide his hand under the V shaped folds that cupped her well-endowed rounded chest, understanding that the pert ivory rosy swell of her breast that he half unveiled was a clear signal that she was dotted with _only_ that light luxurious cloth and she wore no bra to preserve her modesty from him.

"Damn it Priestess, you just _have_ to give me headaches every damn time, don't you?"

Sasuke mumbled to himself realizing that he was clearly showing early signs of craziness for he never talk to himself like a lunatic person, rolling the end of his royal navy blanket over her form until it reached her collarbone, covering what should remain draped from his eyes and preserve her purity from unwanted lust and attention, and kept it tucked on her chest as he slide the ample folds around her petite shoulders, slipping a hand under her back to pull her up just enough so he could detach his mother`s soaked wet and cold kimono from her form, miraculously succeeding in doing so without exposing more skin than necessarily.

The Priestess seemed to be half conscious as she was rolling her head occasionally right and left over her shoulder like her fever took the shape of a demon consuming her mind and soul, and poisoning her from inside out, while her heavy lids fell prey to the darkness around trying to flutter open and fight for consciousness.

It was in the moment when Sasuke has been victorious in shuffling his hands along her body to unclad her from the silky touch of her wet kimono, refraining from brushing his fingertips along her nacre skin more than necessary, proving to be an elegant gentleman in all the splendor of the word and a true refined Uchiha with a noble education, Sakura`s curled long eyelashes fluttered open like pixie wings poured with glowing crystals dusted around her Egyptian cat orbs and her vitreous emerald gemstones shone like glossy diamonds into the warm illuminated room, trying to focus on the shifting motion on her left side.

Her lips tried to find a coherent rhythm as she weakly breathed but her throat felt rough and burning and yenning to feel the light touch of water and she immediately traced her tongue over her feverous lips, finding it suspicious that a moist sweet feeling of sweet wine and nectar still lingered on them and overcoming the bitter feeling of her fever. "S–Sasu–"

Her mind was reeling into a pounding oblivion that kept her both alert to the outside world and the benumbing realm of a boiling volcano nesting into the pits of her burning chest, but those amazingly glowing red beryl eyes shining in all their enthralling fractal beauty burning into the depths of her own and revealing genuine concern and confusion –for the first time since they have met, as she tried to murmur his elegant name and cling on the concept of his presence beside her in a vain attempt to preserve hope that he won't let anything happen to her.

And he will definitely not. She quickly tucked on the edge of the blanket that was soft and delicate to the touch but unable to provide much warmth –everything into that grandiose but lifeless house resembled the coldness of a funeral stone inscribed with the names of Sasuke`s beloved ones, when the Uchiha placed it under her palm after successfully removed the chemise out of her body and tossing it aimlessly on the floor, hearing it fall with an almost inaudible tap on the carpet, while covering her lissome body with the bed sheets.

A pent up breathe that Sasuke has not even been aware that he was holding entrapped into the nest of his burning lungs, left his lips while his heart that was trying to fall into steps with the frenetic pulse that burned through his vessels along with the surge of adrenaline and worry immixed into a fervent worry, when he realized that _his_ Priestess and prisoner has opened up her eyes and unabashed relief has exuded through his every pore.

For one moment that seemed to have been tattooed on the wall of eternity throwing them back out of time into an alternate cosmos where time didn't pass, their stares connected and while his steady Sharingan has penetrated through every crevice of her soul, drowning into her burning feverous pain, he also got imprinted with the pleading of her humble request and another emotion that was bright and clear shining like million diamonds in the sky and it was all addressed to him –the Priestess _trusted_ him with every fiber that he will not walk away, turn his back on her and let her die and it even scared him now she forgo to that conceptualization of naivety, so freely and without reticence.

Again, that woman was appealing to the man in him, to a part of him that has been his gift from his ancestors which had him rose from his side of the bed, alerting him that the warmth exuding like a soothing fireplace in a frozen December night was oozing from his chiseled body, was because of his presence who was pressed onto the mattress and something sink into her chest like the broken swings of an ancient pendulum being shattered and dusty under the sand of time, fearing that his warmth will indeed walk away from her, but as if reading her mind, Sasuke`s leathery voice caressed her like a tender romantic November lullaby, speaking low, calm and tender and almost affectionate. "I will bring some water. I will be right back. Rest."

Sakura only blinked once as she was not able to thank him properly through words even though her lips seemed to be muttering and conveying another unspoken song that has been thorn from the diary of her heart, following how his lissome shadow was naturally molding and melting within the embrace of the darkness into the room –she vaguely recognized it to be his parents` old bedroom that she has cleaned in the morning and a small genuine smile bloomed on her lips as she tucked the blanket onto her chest with her weak fist, realizing that Sasuke has purposely brought her to _his_ bed, as a clear unconscious sign of the worry and care that crept into his seemingly insensible heart and it was only for _her._

Even though her entire muscles felt like pinned by electric needles, clenching throbbing, coursed by spasms and convulsing violently like fighting the rush of adrenaline in their haste to alleviate the high temperature in a clear sign of a rushing fever, Sakura felt beyond freezing.

Her every cell from her opaline skin felt like benumbed and latched on an iceberg and the need to repine in pain was burning her mind, but she was a shinobi who wouldn't shed tears from this level of pain, albeit she would have sold her soul for a bit of warmth to graze her system.

She failed to realize the signs that her body was sending to her in waves of rippling alerts when she literarily fell into the cold pond, but it was all because she has been caught into the flamboyant spur of the moment and the unexpected course of events has overwhelmed her, as her mind basked into every range of emotions, starting with amusement and then something incandescent and electric that hit her like a perfumed strong wind blow in late August morning, all courtesy to Sasuke`s unexpected intense behavior and ultimately to his fulminant kiss upon her lips.

She was so absorbed into his presence, into his magnificent mystique onyx eyes that spoke of everything and nothing at all, puzzling her with how many emotions could be written into his eyes, like they were a parallel universe comprising billion lost stars without a name and a sea of multiple souls that he seemed to have, trying to read the message that he was trying to convey to her.

Being so lost to her own bodily sensations and just when his lips have collided to her, bringing all the tumultuous fervent of his passionate kiss dissipating along her skin has Sakura found the world around spinning in spirals of smoke and turning into a blurred image, resulting in her losing consciousness and alertness and falling prey into a sweet benumbing state of mind.

But that was only for a moment because the fever running haywire down her system brought her back from the short slumber that made her faint into Uchiha`s unexpected arms and have her float into a semi lucid state of mind and freeze into his bed.

Sakura felt her limbs narcotized without any strength left into her muscles and she could barely move her head over her shoulder to take in her surroundings and keep her lucent emerald orbs half open and trying to focus around her, but she could barely limn anything into the distance for Sasuke has chosen not to let light shine into his home and only the pellucid rays of the full moon were enveloping half of the room in an enigmatic romantic radiance falling against the end of the bed and above her draped legs and onto the smooth carpet, creating a small pool of golden and silvery light in the middle of the room.

When she realized that Sasuke was removing her clothes from her body, her mind started to protest and enter a state of panic at his actions, but her heart that was shining brighter into the chest of a Priestess who depicted his _inner_ genuine and considerate self-assured her that he was trying to help her and never to disrespect her when she was in such a weak feeble state.

Sasuke removed the cold clothes off her body and tried his best to make it elegantly so as to refrain from any improper behavior and when he first covered her with the blanket and then undress her, realizing that she wore no lingerie underneath, except for her panties that she was now struggling to sneak a feeble hand under the elastic of the lace undergarment and skim it down along her thighs and along her legs as it was equally wet and pressing against her body iron cold, she tried to thank him for being so mindful, smart and aristocrat but words failed her.

Sakura was well aware that such a pathetic thing as a mere coldness that turned into a flu and resulted into a fever, probably being enhanced by the battle with those Kumo shinobi were all the result of her chakra being depleted and since she used to involuntarily and naturally rely on her Medical Ninjutsu to heal everything that her body perceived as a virus and intrusion that now left her body unprotected and vulnerable, she didn't have a way to heal herself using her Ninja trained skills, so she had to take it the traditional hard way, as a mere civilian.

Apart from being thirsty like running blindly through the scorching merciless desert under the burning sun and cold like sinking into the deepest abyss of the Arctic Ocean, Sakura knew that she will be fine if she took a good rest and knowing Uchiha, he will probably not bother her and leave her rest –on the contrary, he was probably being thankful that she was too weak to pester him and try to engage him into a conversation so as to get close to him and have him open up to her.

Sakura nearly smiled realizing that this situation will not be permanent, for she was now more adamant than never to unravel his hidden personality and amidst this clever masquerade, she will be able to depict his face through the maze of beautiful deceiving masks that he wore like the most virtuous actor. He won't escape her so easily by simply hiding into the shadows that became his protective carcass.

Sasuke`s care was making her heart melt like hot caramel when rewinding his actions into the back of her mind on fast forward.

She realized it with much emotion that Sasuke cared, albeit he was doing his best to appear laconic, unfazed and apathetic like the world around wasn't fazing him in the last.

His inborn reflexes were speaking for themselves and words became unnecessarily when he wasted not even a single heartbeat to gently and quickly collect her into his arms like she was a bud of the rarest most exquisite flower blooming into his garden, handling her with so much delicacy that almost made her emerald orbs moisten with lucent tears and betraying that he had a passionate and affectionate heart underneath his walls surrounding it like an untouchable fortress, one that was manifesting in times like this.

For something so unimportant as a mere fever, Sakura understood that she could count on him and trust him entirely.

Sasuke knew exactly when to be playful, when to show his mocking and ironic side coated in his idiosyncratic cynic remarks and disdainful mockeries and when to be serious and trustworthy just like when he rushed in to save her from the Kumo shinobi, even if he was good in hiding his true colors with such a vapid contemptuous veneering claiming it that he did it out on a whim and smug possessiveness over something that he claimed first, but she knew better than to think that his actions were only courtesy of greediness and were not a practice façade to expertly mask that he was genuinely concerned and truly cherishing her.

And even though she was lying supine and completely vulnerable under the cool sheets of his bed which failed to provide enough warmth to soothe her entirely, the only thing that she could think about, the detail that made her heart swell into her chest and start to pound more frenetically than the fever claiming her body, was the emotion overflowing unhinged along her spine and chest when reminiscing about the fact that Uchiha genuinely cared and she has flawlessly guessed his inner loving nature.

He moved her so deeply with his reticent and calculated but meaningful gestures, that she had this unadulterated impulse to tear in emotion when thinking how deep he could be if he would relinquish into this hidden nature that was welled into his body and maybe she will one day be successfully seeing all that affection that he was capable of and bringing it to the light.

Unconsciously, while evoking his image into her memory, Sakura hasn't realized that the resonance through the Jutsu that Sasuke has cast upon her to suppress her chakra has reverberated and ricocheted back to the _owner_ , who was busying himself into the kitchen while quickly infusing a cup of steaming green _tea_ for his sick prisoner upstairs, and that magic spiritual connection between them started to manifest like a pleasant mollifying sensation of warmth, glowing with a tender bright lilac radiance around her wrists as Sakura pressed her palms in a protective manner upon her nude tummy and nearly moaned at the unexpected soothing feeling.

As the fever sent her body into an unpleasant sense of alertness raging along her spine like she was preparing for an upcoming battle, this new welcomed sensation felt so calm, balmy, tranquil and harmonious like a choir of pianos were pressing the high keys of a heavenly melodies in Paradise inside her chest and she relieved into it if only for a second.

Sasuke`s chakra unconsciously discharged from the still mysterious Jutsu and percolated over her body, working not only as a chakra suppressor anymore, but as a living _spirit_ conjured from the intricate design tattooed on her skin, guarding and protecting her and starting to diffuse to her now empty chakra channels and vessels and filling her with _his_ peculiar imprint and quintessence energy of the _five_ elements amassed into a single vial and for a moment, this sent alarming bells into her brain that Uchiha Sasuke might possess all the elements of nature into his spirit, but her mind was not working as a windmill into her skull, as it fought to make the basic vitals function properly and entered a self-preserving state.

The Uchiha himself who was returning back upstairs into his parents` former abode –a place that has been giving him nightmares for such a long time and surprisingly wasn't conjuring the same unpleasant mournful memories now that a _living_ would which was as pure as snow and so capable to erase the lingering reek of _death_ from that Godforsaken place was resting upstairs, felt what Sakura was now perceiving through his own body in the form of a short electric voltage that tickled his cells and travelled along his spine.

He realized that an unnoticeable part of his chakra was being 'stolen' from him by the Priestess through that weird ass Jutsu but he wasn't upset because of it since, as unimportant and unnoticeable for his rather high reserves it was, the Priestess was probably using it to alleviate the fever and being able to feel her _soul_ pleading with him and playing into a harmonious musical resonance, thumping through his own system for him to help, was a new sensation that was as exhilarating as Uchiha couldn't translate it into words.

As the cup of flavored tea that he always had with him –ironically enough being an addict of that simple beverage that had the symbol of the Priestess of _Tea_ into it, was spilling its aroma and hotness along the long hall of his second floor, while Sasuke`s steps rippled along the floor without making any sound like he was made of airflow, slipping back into the room, now clad in only a pair of fresh dry simple dark grey pants that hung low on his rippled hips and not bothering to cover his torso with anything, onyx orbs landing on the Priestess who had a soothed look on her face as her lips were now pressed into that romantic heart shaped lavish form and her orbs shut and serene, facing the door.

He could clearly feel it that the woman with the blush of passionate red roses blooming into her princess cheeks and lips was using _his_ chakra that spilled within her system to heal herself in a way so skillful and fluid that it even made him _admire_ not only her skill and wisdom but her fine grained shinobi alertness to fructify everything that might come in handy and survive; that among a warm feeling that crossed his own body as it was healing and relieving the pain in her own.

Not bothering to shut the door behind him as his lissome ravishing form slide into his room –who would be there to invade their privacy anyway, Sasuke padded towards the jadeite eyed Priestess who was cuddling into the blankets of his bed as his heels printed his steps into the time that seemed to be frozen within the confinements of that abode, and immediately she sensed him approaching albeit he was as swift as a puma, as the air around betraying no ripple of the sounds that he was expertly defying, focusing her glossy orbs to his approaching form.

"I brought some tea to warm you up." He simply added in a voice apparently detached and unemotional, albeit it came as the most pampering melodious sound in the world, caressing Sakura`s very skin in a pleasurable tremble stirred by his low bass guitar sensual resonance.

The mattress sunk briefly as he let his knee press on the bed and came to rest beside her and still holding the steaming beverage whose floral fruity unmistakable fresh aroma hit her like she has suddenly been trapped amidst a valley full of white lilies in bloom in total relaxation, Sasuke slide his free hand under her shoulders and slowly helped her up into a sitting position, supporting her back with his sinewy bicep that was deliciously flexed and bulked pressing down her slender spine, silently handing her the cup and she took it with shaky hands.

The blanket fell along the curve of her tempting chest riding tantalizingly low upon her kiss shaped cleavage, not revealing her opaline skin that was powdered with a rubicund tinge glistening by the crystalline droplets of perspiration sliding along her swan neck and collarbone because of the fever entirely, but enough to have Sasuke quickly avert his too keen gaze from her body and focus on her eyes that were sunk into the cup.

Lush lips percussed around the traditional cup decorated with Sakura flower petals in a beautiful intricate design with cherry trees and Chinese dragons as Sakura elegantly sipped from the beverage and a mewl in total delight broke into the back of her throat when the boiling liquid seeped along her body, warming her tummy and chest and the soft skin of her palms.

She could feel Sasuke`s unfathomable onyx eyes following her every move like a hawk but somehow… Sakura couldn't find it in her to be bothered by the way he was breathing her in every gesture he made, because his stare was not indecent, lustful, lascivious, rude or dumbfounded, on the contrary, he seemed to be fascinated and captivated by her every feminine and deluxe gesture, like a small child falling prey to the ethereal beauty of the first star shaped crystalline snowflakes for the first time, fluttering on the tip of his nose and scarf and sewing into the knitted wool material of his gloves like shimmering crystals and that sent pleasurable warm tickles all along her spine.

Her lips were prickling as her skin was warming by the delicious tea that he served her –being reminded of the pure Green Tea leaves that the Leaf Village was famous for, one that she enjoyed drinking every morning as Sakura emptied the content of the cup in three steady gulps, tracing her tongue over her lips in a torpid manner as she savored the last drop of tea, handing the cup back to the owner and it was then when their eyes locked once again in an involuntary harmony and she nearly froze when she realized how bright Sasuke`s eyes were shining into the pitch crepuscule of the room, taking her breath away.

She politely started to breath a content 'thank you' to the Uchiha for the caring gesture, but it froze halfway her lips when she met _those_ onyx eyes, breathing them in so close and so beautiful, boring into her own.

He could have looked anywhere else into the room, or her contours that were molding under the fine sateen blanket or the nude shoulders of her glowing skin or the supple skin of the swell of her breasts or even the lips that were shimmering with the moisture of the tea that touched them subtly but deliciously enhancing the ravishing shade of wild dark cherries, but Uchiha chose to look straight into her jade diamonds like searching for something that not only he did not knew what exactly was it, but he knew that it was there... something that he has been waiting for his entire life.

His hand around her shoulders was still steady cupping her form so naturally and so incredibly fitting within his half of an embrace, freezing into that position and warming her bare back with his scorching hotness, a calescent radiance that exuded form every pore of his chiseled body and it was in that moment when Sakura realized that Sasuke was half naked, only dotted in a pair of slim sweat pants that did wonders to enhance his toned feline long legs.

"You are trembling." He noticed for starter and Sakura was not positive whether it was from that suddenly electric tension between them, his closeness or the fever.

He took away everything including the pain whenever he was around and made it all seem like an _illusion_ –everything except his presence that was calescent, vivid, incandescent and magnetizing.

"I will bring you another blanket."

"Sa-Sasuke," She stopped him with a weak light brush over his ribs from her hand. "S-stay… please." His onyx eyes narrowed slightly in confusion as her feeble touch seemed to be burning him, albeit the sensation was not sending alarming bells to defend himself, on the contrary it beguiled him and those shimmering imploring eyes were boring into the depths of his own, diving into his obsidian sapphire pools without thinking that she might drown inside.

"I am so… cold." He understood what she wanted while her skin felt so cold to the touch like life has been absorbed from her system and her spirit soared and left her empty shell to keep him company.

Unconsciously his stare traveled around her hands. His chakra was flaring and glowing around her wrists that were so skinny and yet so fragile and delicate and his purple chakra print collided to her opaline pearl skin.

She felt and looked so light, so fragile like the sweetest emotion whispered between lovers into the ardent embrace of the night, as if the Priestess was made of penumbras and tiny rays of light, a zephyr brushing against his bed sheets, a ghost, a phantom, a suave dragonfly, a beautiful chimera without a tangible form and he was afraid to touch her so that she wouldn't break.

She was so fragile and so beautiful like a crystalline dew drop. Something _strong_ coursed through him; for a moment he felt it sound and powerful. "Stay…"

His hand around her back fell slowly sliding along her ribs and shoulders on her waist and resting tenderly on her hipbone like barely touching her, finding himself unable to flinch or pull a single muscle from his body, being absolutely and in premiere lost at what to do or how should he react.

The rose haired Priestess looked so sick, so helpless, so cold and lifeless and those eyes… by Kami those emerald crystals shone with a mystique radiance spilling so much warmth as they were nearly bathed in tears and unabashedly pleading him, imploring him to give just a bit of his warmth to her –nothing more and nothing else.

She wasn't possessive, demanding, clingy or even annoying and the caress of her fingertips on his arm while Sakura was demure and timid in barely touching him afraid not to get him vexed, made something move inside his chest; there was no point in foolishly denying it and lie to himself, Sasuke felt that emotion coursing along his spine and chest like the sweetest electric jolt tickling him.

Just one time… just this time Sasuke will voluntarily succumb to that tempting desire and innate impulse without letting his ration stand between how he felt on the inside and what emotions he chose to portray on the outside and dropped his walls for _her._

She was still a woman who was helpless and sick and curled between his bed sheets without any source of light. He knew that his house was extremely cold and the fireplace was not functional and he knew for a fact that he felt extremely _hot_ so why not getting over with?

His eyelids felt heavy like they were filled with concrete and begged him to hit the pillow and fall into slumber and a sick Priestess will only give him trouble so if it was _warmth_ the thing that she was pleading for, he was willing to give her that.

A throaty exasperated sigh travelled past his firm lips as Sasuke fine combed a hand through the mesh of his ebony locks, pulling them backwards as he got comfortable beside her, lying with his back against his pillow, casting his sleepy onyx eyes to the wall above, aimlessly following the beautiful filigree contour and the fretwork technique garnishing the corners of the room and the one supporting the chandelier.

Sasuke was very pinned to his own concept of a Kage as the one to guard from the shadows and shoulder the entire darkness in the people`s hearts, becoming the dematerialized concept of the entire hatred in the world amassed in a single kernel, cleansing them of all that darkness and making the world a pure one, where only love, peace and happiness will bloom and for that he didn't need bonds, only a balance, an equivalent in light and this was his best friend Naruto.

His dreame lied in exactly that darkness and the loneliness and that was the thing that the Priestess was trying to reach in vain; he will never pander to her silent plea of holding her hand and give up on his dream for something so ephemeral as bonds of affection, thus she was a hopeless Priestess trying to reach him and failing from the beginning.

His right hand slide from Sakura`s body and tapped the matters as he did nothing to remove it but he didn't wrap around her form either in some sort of silent acceptance and that was it; no other gesture of unnecessary affection has transpired between them and this was already plethoric for someone like Uchiha Sasuke, who rejected any form of liaison with the others.

He wasn't welcoming her into his world by revealing sentiments and lovingness but he wasn't pushing her aside either, only allowing her to get close to him as much as she could get from his scorching body warmth –a contradiction to his ideology and the phantasm of his cold dream, a bit of a soothing feeling of comfort that will help her feel better tomorrow morning and not pester him with something so petty as a flu, after all it was her own fault for falling into the koi pond like a stupid careless child and dragging him along with her.

Suddenly there was a heavy quiescence that veiled the entire room, one that they both felt it screaming, wailing, howling, blowing and whispering those words of so much silence and suddenly it turned deafening and benumbing, drowning them inside –the sound of that silence which spoke the truth about the hollow of a heart`s deepest resonance, because it spoke the truth about every each demon hid into the darkness, and and raspy.

It was not scaring Sasuke, but what about her? A cold soft hand skimmed along his ribs and found its route over his chiseled chest as his onyx orbs shuffled on his right where the Priestess lied back down to the bed and placed her palm upon his skin, the two extreme temperatures colliding into an unexpected effervescence.

He remained silent as she took it in the form of an unspoken accord to come closer and she did. Timidly at first, almost reticent that he might push her away, Sakura shifted under the covers, nude as her quivering frozen body was like a diffident Eve searching for her lost rib metamorphosed into her masculine half chased away from Paradise, and placed her porcelain cheek on Sasuke`s chiseled chest, with her ear feeling his steady pulse thumping through those incredibly warm muscles vibrating through her eardrums.

Her rounded firm breasts tapped his ribs as the Uchiha let his onyx eyes be veiled by his long raven lashes as the Priestess` violin body was slowly molding along the lineation of his own, feeling every feminine refined contour, so tender, elegant and diaphanous and yet so ripen, round and sensual nuzzling into his own, in an ancient hymn of songs about two stars colliding and coming together with an explosive energy.

Her silky pert breasts pressed onto his chest as she lied upon his equally naked scorching skin, burning him with the feel of her nymph curves alone despite the dropped low temperature, begging for his touch –one that he refused to give, tempting him like the apple of sin and playing with his mind.

Her hand found shelter upon his heart that was the only traitorous organ in his body that he couldn't control, the coldest impartial judge who betrayed the truth about what she was making him feel without taking anyone's side and yet the quintessence and the impulse of all the hotness in his chiseled body, picking up its pace and synchronizing to the precise swings of the clock hanging on the wall and counting down those minutes seemingly faster than the traces of time.

Sakura let the crown of her head adjust into the crook of his neck, nuzzling and molding perfectly atop his collarbones that were so sensually framing his masculine body, nearly melting against his skin while everything that Uchiha Sasuke was made of hit her every sense like a hurricane of unleashed new sensations.

His amazing smell, his unique elegance, the virility, the hotness of his rippled body, the august alabaster skin that only someone of royal blood possessed, the feeling of security and protection, the calescent warmth that enveloped her like second skin drowning her entirely and overshadowing the frozen feeling, she nearly moaned at the feelings he evoked inside her and their naked bodies touching albeit there was nothing remotely explicit or sexual between them was out of that world and felt so natural and so right in all the simplicity of the action.

Her lips were brushing with a tiffany touch under his chin as she nuzzled her nose into his throat and her head in the crock of his neck while Sasuke absolutely fought against the course of shivers that started to ripple along the pillar of his spine, putting it past the change in temperature as Sakura was cold and quivering against his pleasantly warm body, squeezing his eyelids short and trying to reach that blankness of mind that will automatically throw him in a dreamless slumber.

And he will absolutely _not_ start to fantasize about how would this angel look underneath his navy sheets that were only sensually enhancing the contrast between this virgin maiden and such a color of royalty which brought up every single refinement of her curves and the princess features glowing into the night.

Because he had more self-discipline and common sense than gave erotic images of his prisoner but it would be of course more helpful if she wouldn't start to rub her cheek against his chest and stir that magnetizing charged tension between their brushing skins, very reminiscent to the touch of a silk scarf against his skin and how fine and soft she felt.

Damn her, what kind of Priestess was this woman because any thoughts about Heaven and Kami-sama were the last thing on one`s mind when looking at how beautiful and tempting she was, like chocolate and fine crystal flawless face of a doll, of course, if it was not _her_ the one to conjure the divinity`s name and not in some sort of prayer or meditation, but scream it in _pleasure_ and _beg_ for more.

This is going to be such a damn long night, Sasuke mentally cursed her, Destiny and the fine sense of karma`s iron touching back to him, that bed for suddenly being too _crowded_ and for this woman to fall sick on him and press her naked form so greedily and eagerly claiming part of something that was his, even though it was something so trivia as his warmth.

 _Warmth…_ this concept was too intimate and affectionate so his mind quickly corrected it and turned it into hotness. He shall definitely make the fireplace functional again, wait… he shall do nothing _just_ because it would be comfortable to _her,_ damn it!

The Priestess was a prisoner and Sasuke wasn't operating a damn inn there, so he didn't care whether she was comfortable here or not and this was a one-time occurrence because killing the people`s sweetheart Priestess of Tea now was highly inconvenient and not to _his_ advantage.

A small smirk slide along his thin lips, content with the selfishness that rested on his chest and this newfound determination to make Sakura miserable and ignore her completely enlivened him to bury his head in the sand when it came to the Priestess.

Now if only his fingertips would not feel so ticklish and the skin where she was pressed so jolly onto him would burn and fill with a desire to curl a hand around her shoulders and bring her closer in a tight protective embrace, Sasuke would definitely find the much-needed rest.

His temples hurt worse than his stingy orbs from the previous battle and the stress, but of course that until he fell into slumber, Sasuke`s mind has desperately dug for a possible explanation that he could settle with for this tortuous impulse to cushion and protect this woman, when he clearly didn't _care_ about her.

Was that Naruto or Suigetsu`s pissing voices screaming at him _denial my friend, denial_?

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 _This is better than providence,_ Sakura vaguely registered into her reeling mind in the moment Sasuke allowed her to get closer to him and traipse into his personal bubble and even though she felt that the lack of modesty due to her naked state was highly inappropriate for a respectable lady and not to mention a Priestess, the instinct to preserve warmth and alleviate the pain caused by the fever was making it a desperately dangerous situation that she should take care of quickly, before it got worse.

And since she couldn't use her healing chakra and get over that simple flu by herself, Sakura was depending on the only source of warmth into that incredibly frozen hose and that was unfortunately and ironically –or not, enough, Uchiha Sasuke, her captor`s body.

Now she knew that she was demanding maybe too much for how much was willing to give, already overusing his patience and elegance and not to mention making him fly off the handle by being so clumsy and put him into an embarrassing situation that he was clearly not accustomed to, so she kind of appreciated it that Uchiha was still showing humanity; showing that he genuinely _cared_ because a true heartless villain will have let her die on the spot without as much as bothering himself to carry her all the way to his room and be willing to let her share his _bed_.

Hadn't it been for the raging fever that was chilling inside her body, Sakura would have found that situation incredibly intimidating and uncomfortable, even awkward from all the points of view because never in her life as she been so close and so intimate with a man, not to mention such a splendid tempting fine specimen of a male like Uchiha.

Even though there was nothing concupiscent running through their minds at the moment –at least from Sakura`s part, the undeniable tension between them sizzling in that unidentified strong resonance ricocheting back to them full force when Sasuke joined her into the bed and she felt the empty spot of the matters press with his body weight and the incredibly calescent hotness oozing from his chiseled body dissipated under the sheets, warming her like she was a frozen child in front of the fireplace in a cozy December Christmas Night.

She nearly moaned in delight when her palm found the softness of his alabastrine skin, vaguely registering how beautiful his cold lone beauty looked like enhanced into the rippling waves of the aureate moonlight spilling fading rays across his side of the bed, making him even more gorgeous than he was, since the night turned everything into magic and mystique, melting the calloused rough lineaments and softening the features into something more sensual, young and more erotic and albeit the Priestess was oblivious to the incandescent dark temptations of the moment, Sasuke was perceiving it sound and clear, clearly chasing those indecent thoughts away from him, like exorcising himself off the demons.

Her demure inner self, the suddenly shyness that she felt beyond her cultivation as a Priestess were something so alien for Sakura and suddenly she felt herself nearly drowning in salty waters, unaware of how close she should get to Sasuke, how _personal_ will he allow her to get considering the fact that she clearly felt him stiffen under her touch when she pressed her cheek against his warm chest, feeling his heartbeat pound under her ear picking up its steady pace, like an aria of a midnight romance melody that crescendo made her own heart have a break in the tempo and beat faster and uneven.

Her own fingers begged for touching those deliciously carved muscles that were bare before her eyes as her half-lidded emeralds were aligned to every plane of his chiseled torso and mentally her Inner Sakura was thanking all the Heavens above that Uchiha chose not to cover himself with the blanket, clearly enjoying the coldness around for granting her such a delicious view that any woman would kill to stare at; he was gorgeously sculpted, so lithe and thin but yet so incredibly toned with every single muscle defined and running deep into his marble skin, like a sculptor has tried to portray the sublime manhood of the human race in his form.

She couldn't help herself when a small smile graced her features as she pressed her cheek against his chest, letting her head fit under his chin, and suddenly every single sense has been enhanced despite the rushing of fever and the muscles that felt heavy, limp and tensed because she could perceive his pulse thumping along his throat, his Adam apple bobbling up and down as he gulped once, the radiating hotness of his body warming her like a blanket and enveloping her into a sense of security, protection and comfort like she never had before, not even between the safety of her own Shrine and this was so ironic and sheer iconic.

To have this unmistakable sensation of soothing relief while in the den of lion was either something psychological that her mind was concocting as the simplest way to preserve sanity and cling on any ray of hope to make it out alive from the danger zone, or it was more than such a simplicity transpiring between the two of them, something that Sakura couldn't quite limn but was bubbling frenetically deep inside her and she knew that Uchiha Sasuke could feel it too, albeit he was doing flawlessly in masking it, by dragging just another disimpassioned mask over his face and conceal it from her.

His heart, on the other hand, the melodious harmony that took a sharper resonance in her proximity, the organ that reflected into the depths of his eyes were subtle details that Sasuke could never fake, no matter how much self-control and practice to hide his emotions he had.

They will always speak the truth and reflect the depths of his soul, trying to steal whatever rays of light they could to melt the darkness around.

And this is how frenetic his heart was thumping under the cares of her suave palm and cheek and the newfound intimacy, albeit Sakura didn't have a name for it, was something that beckoned her own spirit and made her own heart twine into that cadence of an ancestral dance and the proximity, the electricity between their nude skin brushing against one another, their opposing body temperatures and the softness of his beautiful masculine features nested into the pits of her stomach and chest like butterfly`s crystal wings struggling to fly high.

Sasuke was such a _hot_ man with the calescent body emanating the light of thousands suns in Heaven, albeit the coldness in his attitude, so elegant, deluxe, beautiful and completely august, swaying between the calloused attraction of a bad guy and the aristocracy of a noble blood, nonchalant and natural with all the most tempting easiness, just like now.

Even when he was fighting, grace and elegance have never been overshadowed by clumsiness, inexperience, and uncivilized barbaric behavior. And his _passion_ was reflected in every single mannerism and the smallest of gestures.

Just like now when he didn't simply turn his back on her rudely and albeit he refrained from embracing her and thus making the tension between them voltage to something even deeper –because she understood that he wasn't looking for a closeness with her and show affection, the tips of his fingers from his right hand that she was using as a comfortable pillow to nuzzle into his chest were caressing her hipbone ever so softly, not touching her like a loving lover, but enough to let her know that the heart always had inner desires that were begging to be projected on the outside and he was definitely not the unemotional bastard that he wanted the others to believe, oh... no.

The fever and the coldness dissipated somewhere into the back of her mind while his peculiar scent of forest fire and raindrops in a pleasant November night have lulled Sakura slowly into slumber as she rubbed the tip of her nose under Sasuke`s chin, because somehow, she found it very delightful how his sweet skin was tickling her and allowed her to take in more of his amazing masculine smell and secretly, she almost wanted for him to close his hands around her form and let her feel those skilled hands that were so versatile and fluent with his sword and hand signs skim along her silk organza skin –the unmistakable feeling of a _man_ and her drifting thoughts have nothing to do with any impure thoughts that were highly inappropriate for a Priestess.

Sakura fell asleep with the tap of Sasuke`s lips along her own mouth in mind, as she clearly couldn't forget the explosive rush of adrenaline and heavenly nectar pressing over her own petals before she collapsed into his sturdy arms, because it felt like a flooding of rushing energy inspiriting her and infusing energy within every crevice and cell of her body, in the most mesmerizing way known.

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As a versatile shinobi, thirsty for adventure and fulfilling his eccentric dreams no matter how highly improbable they might have sounded, Sasuke has found himself in many pinches and deadlocks and even some embarrassing situations, but nothing remotely resembled _this_ particular one.

It looked like there were moments in life when Destiny felt the need to remind him and ram it into his skull that not even someone like him could remain an _untouchable_ monolith and these were moments when his limits have been tested and elongated to the maximum and even more.

Plethoric conflicted feelings were creasing through his mind that was still reeling with the deep fragments of slumber that _almost_ sent him floating over a dreamless deep peaceful slumber, before has been awoken with a start by the alertness that his body has sent along his column, in a feeling very reminiscent to the one of being course by his own _Chidori Stream_ discharged along his every limb and Uchiha nearly jumped off the bed, but his composure and lucidity had him react calmly and keep his temper in check.

But nothing could have prepared him for _this._ Because the reason why Sasuke Uchiha the notorious shinobi who defeated notorious shinobi like Hiruzen, a renewed avenger who was deeper than any regular villain and succeeded in being one step ahead of his generation and the voice of the rebellion amidst a group of shinobi with convoluted dreams colliding into one single whisper of ration that voiced for a change and a _revolution,_ found himself _paralyzed_ and immobile with his obsidian orbs stretched upwards like onions, slowly blinking to pierce through the lush darkness of the room and unable to peel them off his chest, not capable of comprehending what was going on right under his nose. Literarily.

Never in his life has the last of the Uchiha, the formidable heir of the most stellar Kekke Genkai –the children of Sharingan, had such a bodily experience, because every single pore of his carcass has been transfixed into a carousel of tingling sensations, vibrating like he was walking over a magnetic field with bare feet or defying gravity and training over the water while his thoughts were fluttering at the absurdity of the mind cracking situation, being in total contradiction to how his unleashed feelings were bridling and diffusing into his mind and body in heavy trepidations.

Burning hot rivulets of sweat were percolating along the cords of his neck and pulse, running in meandering torpid strokes along the chiseled planes of his toned chest and ribs like he was running high on fever, but it was totally not the case here.

His toes were curling into the mattress as they poked out of the blanket since the plush coverture was wrapped around the other companion who was sharing the bed with him, but that was not the main problem here.

Rolls of electricity were drizzling against his skin like heavy frozen rain drops toying with his own body temperature and his harsh pants were making it impossible for the Uchiha to keep his steady inhales of air.

His pulse was coming off in an unruly staccato rhythm and he felt that adrenaline will throw his body into a frenzy of explosive fireworks as they drapped him like a mantle.

There were tingles and tickles running haywire along his limbs and spine like they were racing on the hayway speeding at the speed of sound, throwing him into a vacuum without the chance to come back to the earth.

But the emotion that was the strongest one that was going through his body was _fury._ Yes, Sasuke was so fucking angry that he truly felt like this was the ultimate test for his amazing soiticism and self-control, because it was an imbroglio of vexation, chagrin, puzzlement and everything swaying between pleasure and anger, sewed in an impossible net that only one person in the entire Universe has been able to make him feel and this person was sleeping right next to him.

He was going to kill this Priestess soon enough, Sasuke was starting to be quite confident that he will do it even though this was not his plan when he captured her and made her a hostage, but seriously... his patience was starting to run really _really_ low and no matter how apathetic he was, since this was too much even for him.

Because the thing that woke Sasuke up from a rather heavy slumber was on thing alone; the Priestess of Tea was _suckling_ on his freaking _nipple_ greedily into her slumber.

This cannot be possible, it was as absurd as it was hot, wet and incredibly out of this world _good_!

And those feelings combined were the things that made Sasuke held his breath like he was a pansy main character in a horror movie waiting motionless into his bed to see the evil spirit bursting out of his closet and possess him.

This woman… she was supposed to be a virgin maiden who embraced the life of chastity and purity and dedicate her life to praying and meditating about Kami-sama and the wonders of life when in reality she had inner demons who were concocting concupiscent dark desires and they were manifesting when she was not conscious about it.

She was the sweetest torture and the most dangerous poison in her innocence and purity which only made one drop down his guards and walls, because they deemed her as docile when in reality she was a greater vixen than the rest of the other women, _'attacking'_ him when he last expected it.

 _Remain calm, don't panic,_ he was desperately chanting those lines as a mantra in his head while his obsidian orbs were widened comically like saucers, and he was clenching his sharp maxillaries so bad that his face felt like cracking in half.

And he was torn between two opposing demons in his mind; one that almost elevated his hands like being tied with invisible ropes and curled around her neck choking her to death, while the other one urged him to run it along her naked siren curves under the blanket and _respond_ to what she was doing , paying her back with the same coin and then blame it on him being sound asleep and thus oblivious to what he was doing.

Because he could clearly see it that Sakura was dead to the world from her uneven strokes and steadily breaths.

The rest of her body was limp and steady, her body temperature felt close enough to normal and she stopped trembling –but definitely nuzzled deep into him basically resting on his chest and their legs were being twined in an intricate net that was making Shikamaru proud of coming up with such a challenging riddle, but her actions were mind cracking.

Never in his life has Sasuke been struck and loss of what to do like in this moment. Not even when he witnessed the murder of his entire family has he felt so helpless, limp and the adrenaline to helping him _react_ in any way than simply watch her and what a performance she was putting up.

A pair of heart shaped moist lips were cupping his right nipple like a chase kiss, suckling the erect rosy skin occasionally like a newborn, with gentle strokes falling under the grace of her cashmere warm skin, then flicking the tip of her tongue around the tauten bundle and the dark areola around, like tasting the sweetest flavored candy into her mouth.

If the sudden jerk wouldn't require so much energy, Sasuke would have brought his left hand up and slap his forehead. Just what the flying _fuck_ was this Priestess doing to him?

Was that the things that she was _meditating_ about in her Shrine? It was either his vision of a virgin Priestess that was distorted and in total disaccord to the reality, or this woman was a double agent who was the most flawless skilled actress and sent to take him down as a kunoichi in disguise, by either the Leaf or an enemy Village.

His silvery obsidian orbs filled with a thick vein of fog getting drunk and blinded by lust and hormones that were spilled along his body at her touch, and it would have been questionable if he didn't react to her but holy damn, what she did was heavily _arousing._

His mind was screaming at him to pry her off and slap her nape to give the rose haired woman a good wake up call, while his body was pleading with her to never stop tasting him so ravenously like she was doing and those two opposing forces battling inside him were driving Sasuke insane!

His loose pants were tight on his body that was hard and pulsating with blood and need to feel her warm, hot and tight around him, touch her, have her and possess her and have her taste every _inch_ of him with those silky lips, while he will devour her and cover her with his own mouth, starting from the supple breast that was pressed into his ribs so firm, round and soft to the touch and then slides his tongue down her stomach and-

"Fuck woman…" What in the name of Susanoo was he thinking about?! No, he had to remain calm and not seethe because she didn't know what she was doing –or did she?

Maybe he has severely misjudged her and she was not this innocent like she wanted everyone else to believe, after all she was a shinobi and in the world of ninja, the facade of deception was the most natural mask that one could wear, so maybe she was seducing him on purpose while making it look like she was not.

Maybe she dragged him into the koi pond on purpose to have him _wet_ and in a very sensual circumstance, so that he will be driven to make a move and prove it that he was a real _man,_ and he was damn it!

No matter how much the others were mocking him for being serious, composed and keep his primal impulses on the check and not being tempted to forgo to his animalistic tendencies, Sasuke was a _man_ with boiling blood bubbling fervently all through his young body and being a passionate Uchiha was not helping his current condition.

For Kami only knows how many minutes has Sasuke stood rooted to his bed, albeit he was more than _free_ to move, watching the Priestess roll her tongue around his skin and suckle him with those lips that he was secretly dying to capture again and kiss her –another unexplainable impulse that Sasuke has desperately put it past hormones and a tiring day, like she was inwardly enjoying what she was tasting so delicately and yet she looked incredibly sensual, because the fact that she might be a Priestess who was busing herself praying meant less than nothing to someone like him.

But she was an unbelievably gorgeous swan naked under his bed and lying supine on the top of him, looking so peregrine, so sophisticated as she was bathed in the pale golden moonlight warming up every single inch of her elegant form and putting another layer of pearl ivory around her glowing form, and miraculously she still managed to preserve the touch of purity while looking sensual in a refined way that no straight male could resist.

Then he snapped back from that sweet torturous induced trace and snuck his right hand that was tapping the mattress under her form to move her away from him while his left-hand slide under her check and remove her lips from his body, accidentally tapping the pad of his fingertip on her slick tongue.

Hissing low on his chest as the room turned boiling hot and suffocating because of the unexpected contact, Sasuke cursed her softly not to wake the woman up when she shifted her body even closer to him and snuck a leg between his own, brushing her knee to the inside of his thigh, nearly touching _parts_ of his body that were filling with blood, tightening into his pants and demanding attention.

"Fuck, get off you, idiot." He was talking to the Priestess in vain because she looked lost in slumber.

What the heck? Was she always sleeping like this? He vaguely wondered _what_ was she normally _licking_ since she was supposedly living alone, that vixen.

His fingers cupped her chin as he slowly and without making any sound, scrunched his shoulders and tried to stand up, dipping his head with the fluidity of the motion, still holding her cheek tenderly so as not to wake the girl up and keeping a hand around her shoulders so as to not move her from her position and then place her back onto the mattress.

He has been careless till now; the Priestess has been the only one besides Naruto who could easily fool his vigilance and sneak through his guard and it was simply because she was using one of the stalest and cliché tricks which always worked, namely her innocence and this element of surprise to her contradicting mannerism was making him be more lenient, because Sasuke wouldn't expect her to act the way she did if she was an implied Priestess, but he will be more careful now that he has realized it.

Yes yes, her innocence was very dangerous. This woman wearing the costume of a lamb was a demon in disguise with the face of a mermaid and her actions were so helplessly and naturally contradicting to how she acted so sensual and arousing with all her seemingly innocent and clumsy moves which always ended up in nursing him and making him act so out of his disimpassioned character.

Damn her for being such a virtuous actress –yes he still couldn't believe that someone could genuinely be clumsy like this without even trying.

And of course that karma was a funny thing and had an unparalleled sarcasm and a subtle irony with a short infusion of a dark humor because it was in _this_ moment when the Uchiha made a grave mistake namely take a better look on her angelic face which was soaked in an ethereal afterglow and constantly pouring those droplets of glitter on the bricks of his walls, making them disintegrate slowly but surely and this pissed Sasuke off to no end.

He had absolutely no reaction to this woman in the moment when she flipped her emerald eyes _open_ wide and locked gazes with his onyx ones as they were one breath away from each other`s lips, catching him in very compromising position with his hand cupping her cheek lovingly –or so it looked like because, in reality, he didn't want her to wake up, his other hand wrapped around her shoulders and him leaned forward to her… _lips._

This was the most uncomfortable silence that Sasuke ever found himself surrounded by and the sparkling lust, the unmistakable busted figures, the lump inside his throat which tied a knot and knocked the wind out of his lungs, her breaths that turned from steady and slow to mad in a nanosecond, the warmth fanning over their faces and lips merging into a calescent tropical attraction, the incredibly arousing and erotic position and the slight tinge of blush on his high cheeks and the one she missed kissing the lobes of his ears that were concealed by the incredibly disheveled raven hair.

 _Uh-oh…_

* * *

Sakura was enthralled by one of the most incredible dreams that she ever had, namely she found herself amidst a blurred scenario in the middle of the nature cupped by the first rays of Summer and albeit she couldn't distinguish anything clearly like she was just having a premonition without contours, there was this heavenly sense of comfort and security giving by _someone_ that she didn't have a face for and it was emotional and heartwarming ,akin to a newborn`s fist cry to the world; she felt like crying tears of pure emotion in her sleep.

She knew for a fact that all the comfort and smoothening sensations were courtesy to someone, but she couldn't make it out who that stranger was and her mind reeling against the wings of the paradise dream was drugged by the feelings and didn't try to conjure a clearer outline.

But if felt amazing, it was more amazing than the concept of flying on solar wings.

Not only this, but that dream was so vivid and effervescent as it kept on playing into her mind and albeit it only lasted for few seconds, her mind spanned it limitless.

She could perceive it so bright and so clear through every sense, and even with the tip of her tongue, because another amazingly mysterious feeling that her dematerialized consciously had was that she was _tasting_ something absolutely divine and if she would have been a Goddess in Olympus, this was how the most syrupy Ambrosia craved by the Deities would taste like; she simply couldn't have enough of it, it was euphoria and aphrodisiac mixed together.

Helplessly, she kept on moving her lips that felt blessed and coated in honey and vanilla with a plethoric infusion of cinnamon and something spicy that she never tasted before, and even though she didn't have a cup to satiate from, just moving her lips in her dreamland world was enough to have it percolate against her skin, unknowing that it was _Sasuke`s_ nipple the one she was pampering and nearly had him lose control.

But oh Kami-sama, that was a gratification to the paramount of everything that started with heavenly pleasure!

The pure sensation of being wrapped in the mantle of Heaven and be granted supreme pleasure was similar to what she was feeling in her slumber and not only that, but it felt incredibly _real_ too!

Warmth, tenderness, sweetness, comfort, and protection were things that any woman craved for and that was one of the dreams that no one wanted to ever wake up from.

Nonetheless, _something_ in the back of her mind that was lost into a realm that was not explored entirely by science and human namely one of the dreams, gave Sakura an electric impulse and shattered the conjured up dream like broken mirrors surrounding her and now felt like masks on a Gothic carnival that turned horror, surrounding her by darkness, albeit the sense of warmth still lingered, surprisingly and so was the taste of honey on her moist lips.

And it was in the moment when her orbs fluttered open and the first thing they landed on were the part of the most incredibly black sapphire-hued ones belonging to only one man in the world, in the blitz of panic she reacted accordingly to how any sane woman would in her place, when she found herself stark naked in the arms of the finest man she has ever seen, trapped in his arms with his _lips_ suspended one breath away from hers and his suave hand cupping her face like in sheer anticipation.

Namely, she squawked like a broken piano stuck on the highest key at the top of her lungs making Sasuke cringe and go momentarily deaf and _punched_ him square into his handsome face with surprisingly so much force that it sent the Uchiha ricocheting backwards like in a good action movie with much effect, rolling off the bed on his shoulder as she slide from his arms shrieking away from him like he literarily burned her and landing on the carpet beside the bed, hitting his head against the nightstand in the process.

Still scratching and tucking the blanket against her bare chest, cupping her nude breasts and modesty with the sheets that were now oozing enough warmth to provide comfort, squeezing her emerald orbs shut she bridled. "AH! Let go you perverted molester-"

The astounded Uchiha interjected into her yelling feeling this irresistible impulse to smack something hard, burn everything around down with his very Amaterasu and strangle this Priestess with his bare hands, bristling. "-Stop damn screaming into my home."

She miraculously stopped her hollers upon hearing and recognizing the unmistakable husky timber of his alto voice and opened up her emerald orbs to peep at the other. "Are you possibly insane you hysteric woman?"

He completely lost any grace and education in his manner of speaking and it was simply because his mind –and heart, never forgot that this was the room of his parents and Hell might swallow him entirely if he went as far as to molest a woman –no matter who she was, and disrespect and taint the memory of them.

His mother will come back and haunt his ass forever for such an unforgivable sin in the noble Uchiha family of stern traditions and cultivation for touching her in any improper way, but his glass was filled to the point of flooding and he couldn't keep the insults at bay, albeit he composed himself from shouting aloud at the Priestess like he wanted to.

How the fuck did she manage to land such a heavy blow on his face considering the fact that she was sick, chakra depleted and curled into his arms with so little room for a decent momentum?

Sasuke tapped his fingertips against his jaw, feeling his lower lip split until he tasted copper on the tip o his tongue, cursing her mentally like he never damned anyone before, using all the most inventive insults that he sadly picked from Kiba, Naruto, and Suigetsu for how bad it burned him.

And the throbbing sensation on his temple was hurting like a bitch.

 _I am going to fucking kill this woman with my bare hands!_

Sakura didn't quite perceive the things he said rather than the fact that he addressed her in a tone betraying that he was smothering his rage, and this is what made he come up to her senses, but she couldn't have helped the natural impulse to defend herself when finding herself in such a delicate position.

A man was hovering above her for Kami`s sake, so what was she supposed to do since naturally she was accustomed to being alone and thus deem everyone else as a transgressor of her sacred den? It was purely instinctual.

And painful.

And hot, because she was sweating now, her cheeks were flushed and her heart was trying helplessly to keep the pace with that maddening frenzy that sent a blizzard of adrenaline through her vessels and it had nothing to do with the fever that was almost gone, courtesy to the bits of chakra that she _borrowed_ from Sasuke through that Jutsu –it being the explanation of how she managed to land a blow on him.

Had they been in their right state of mind –Sasuke more than her, they would have realized that the Jutsu didn't quite interfere with her injuring him and that was questionable since someone like Sasuke wouldn't have concocted a technique that would not protect _him_ from her and had so many flaws.

The mystery was yet to be discovered. Nonetheless, she felt the unmistakable brief tickles along her spine and body when she did that and that was one of the reasons why she stopped yelling.

Briskly and totally cutely, the Priestess scurried to his side of the bed, crawling on her tummy along the comfy mattress and letting her head dangle from the bed, pouting at Sasuke and watching him with a stare that reminded the Uchiha of a 4-year-old kid who seemed to be perturbed by something that his little brain couldn't comprehend , since he did not have any concept of anything, so it came out as totally cute.

But that was the last thing in his mind for she was doing _that_ again –hurting him or making him flush in anger, then act like a cherub with wicked thoughts; Karin was right, this elf was a mischievous goblin in disguise.

Her coral hair resembling a soft veil fell along her nude shoulders and concealed half of her face, giving the Priestess the touch of a sensual sex hair as it brushed along the glimmering skin while her vice was serene like the strings of a harp in total contradiction, sweet, innocent and suave.

"Oh, I am terribly sorry Sasuke," the way she whispered his name should be forbidden because it felt similar to being a strike by his Chidori Nagashi making his spine shiver. "I didn't mean to be impolite. You were so close and scared me, so I reactted naturally. Forgive me. Did I hurt you severely?"

 _Just on the ego,_ his mind quickly added what his pressed lips coudltn voice now because he was busy clenching his jaw so bad that his face contorted in pure rage. He was visibly seething and keeping his temper at bay and not hurt her like he itched to –among _other_ things that he might do to her.

Sakura has not even realized that the blanket rode low on her spine and uncovered her siren back and half of her round ass and her mentally slapped himself, then turned around to slam his head against the wall.

Was it possible to put himself under his own Genjutsu and escape that ridiculous situation? Just what the heck was she blabbering about?

"You," He slide the tip of his tongue against his lips, glimmering twice in smothered anger. "is _this_ your _normal_ way to react in every situation?" Namely that she always found a way to _touch_ him in ways that turned him on, whether in pain or lust he didn't care.

This woman…

"No, of course not I was just… a bit… having a very good…" Sakura found her lips starting to stutter and a rosy powder blushed her cheeks in embarrassment while looking closely at the Uchiha crawled on the floor and taking a good look at his form.

"…I am…" Something in the pits of her belly was burning and tightening like a ball of amassed energy, begging to be released and this made her anxious, fidgety and very _very_ hot inside.

Bristle pitch raven locks spilled in naughty rebel way along his forehead and eyes, clashing with his skin more alabastrine than marble, eyes which shone into the darkness silvery-black pearl and being vivid and alive, toned abdomen with mouthwatering sculpted muscles cupping every inch of it, loose pants hanging so sinfully _low_ on his ripped waist, leaving so many unexplored options for the imagination… she felt her cheeks combust and the need to crawl under the sheets grew feral.

"I-Is that a split l-lip?" Immediately emerald orbs filled with worry and everything concupiscent and dark has been put on the second plan. "Oh my, is this _my_ doing? Let me see!" In less than the blink of an eye, Sakura literarily jumped off the bed with the blanket sliding along her body until it got to her hips and landed on Sasuke`s lap as he was on the verge of getting up, knocking him down with her hands hanging on his shoulders, akin to wanting to pin him down and do-

"You are bleeding! I am going to take a first aid kit, please do not panic."

Panic? _The fuck?_ how in the name of Lord have they landed in another situation which was even more imbecile than all the previous ones? And more importantly, why was the Priestess fucking _straddling_ his hips between her bare thighs and had him pinned down on the floor?

Seriously, was this the punishment of the Gods for all the sins that he has committed and forced him into atonement or were the spirits of the Uchiha clan getting very _bored_ on the other side and decided to amuse themselves with the last heir and put him in such situations?

A stark naked lady whose the only form of concealing those violin curves was a piece of cloth which only enhanced those forms rather than conceal them from him was hovering atop of him, looking like a puma cornering her prey but those orbs… those amazingly pure emerald orbs were shining with genuine worry and she dipped down her head so as to take a glimpse of her 'work of art' on his face better since it was quite difficult to see something into the darkness, making it all the most mind blowing.

For one moment Sasuke`s heart held in its breath refusing to him somehow expecting her to _kiss_ him. And that thought alone had his brain make implosion.

Yup, he lost his freaking mind. It had to happen at some point considering the fact that he was the last Uchiha survivor meandering along the paths of a shinobi like a rogue with a bunch of equally dysfunctional teammates, insanity came with job`s description.

In fact, he was so confused, thrown off the comfort zone, so incredibly turned on, hard and hot and every inch of his vigorous body sizzled with an indescribable vitality and calescence that he found his mind begging for him to shut down ration and succumb to the most primal urges, flip them over –or not, and _take_ her hard, rough, fast and all through the night until she will ebb his name on every wall of the house.

So he did the most logical thing in the world, namely focus on his chakra whose small portion was glowing so bright and seemingly pinkish in shade, lighter than his normal purple radiance almost like in anime where an electric romantic tension cast between the main characters and it was ludicrous and nonsensical, hoping that she might react somehow and shy away from him.

But instead, she dug her nails into his sculpted shoulders, dropped on his form entirely, brushing her pert chest against his own and burst out yelling like a banshee and laugh at the same time, filling the room with her childish melodic resonance, making his eardrums tremble like a church bell. "HAHAHAHA, s-stop this HAHAHAHA i-it tickles!"

Sasuke lost it for real when her hips accidentally slammed against _his_ own.

* * *

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* * *

Inconspicuous light steps were tapping along the hall of the first floor, while a hand was pressed against his goofy whiskered figure to cover the titters escaping his lips, upon thinking of the best way to give Sasuke a good wakeup call and annoy him to the maximum because let`s face it, they were not best friends for nothing.

 _Naruto_ Uzumaki was sneaking into Sasuke`s house knowing the way all too well since he was the only one except for Sakura who has seen the previous Uchiha Manor before and thus he memorized the rooms clearly for later _surprises_ _._

If Sasuke thought that he could hide iinto the secluded part of the former Uchiha ghostly district like a lame solitary Vampire Prince and escape his friends` wrath, he was severely underestimating them.

After he has been having a psychological showdown with the civilians who required medical attention and exchanged some very heated arguments with them, because he was being naturally branded as a traitor, rogue, fugitive, villain and even what lacerated his heart the most _monster_ and got into a clash with Karin and the others for having to take care of those degenerate fools –their words exactly, and children –here is where no one complained not even Karin, Naruto felt depleted of energy but not enough to be in the mood to pester Sasuke.

So he sought for cooperation from Suigetsu and Kiba, his favorite prank partners and partying people and the troublesome trio –like Shikamaru blantly named them, barged into the privacy of Sasuke`s home at midnight, armed with bags loaded with unhealthy bags of chips –the ones drenched in greasy cheese that Sasuke _loathed_ them for the smell, sake, and beers and marched to the Uchiha Compound and of course that the responsibility for disturbing him for whatever the heck he was doing fell on Naruto`s shoulders.

Because no one wanted an angry Uchiha on his back since usually an enraged Uchiha resulted in two possible scenarios; it was either he was ravaging everything in his way or completely ignored the situation and both were options that only Naruto could handle flawlessly.

Ignoring the ghostly atmosphere, the suffocating silence and the tension that arose with the vivid imagination of Naruto`s small neurons at the idea of people dying in that house at some point in time, the fact that there were cold shivers running along his spine whenever he peeped behind his back –every two seconds, like someone, was blowing coldly on his nape, Naruto deduced that Sasuke could only is in his room and so he followed his intuition all the way to the last room that remained unchecked; the Master`s bedroom.

But he almost had a heart attack and the blow of his mind almost made Kurama flinch in shock into the pits of his conscience when he glued his ears to the door out of reflex, like any other respectable _stalker_ would do and heard muffled questionable sounds, and this is the reason why he didn't barge inside like a tornado and holler to his friend to wake up his ass and come down to drink.

And then it happened. Amidst the bizarre noises and the ruffling of the bed sheets and bodies tossing on the bed or so it seemed, one particula line nearly had Naruto fall down in shock. _"hahaha, please stop this Sasuke, you_ _are_ _tickling me so bad!"_ His orbs popped out of his sockets rolling down the floor.

That was definitely the Priestess` unmistakable voice, sounding jolly, _pleased,_ playful and…

Very bad naughty thoughts were now forming into the blonde's head and the vicious perverted imagination didn't help in the bit.

What the heck was going on in there and why was the Priestess in Sasuke`s room, laughing and… oh they were _not_ doing what he thought they were doing now, did they?

But it was clearly Sasuke`s voice ringing across the room in all its frustrated resonance hissing like a Cobra lines that had Naruto press on the knob and barge into the room to see the miracle unfolding with his own eyes. _"Kindly get off me_ _woman_ _and watch what you are doing with those_ _hands_ _."_ If that didn't sound like a lascivious line then nothing else did.

"Teme, what the heck is going on–" Naruto burst into the room slamming the door wide open throwing it against the wall beside, just in time to witness the comedy going on live.

Sasuke was sprawled all over the floor resembling a jellyfish on the sand with Sakura hovering atop him and straddling his narrow waist, being completely naked underneath that navy blanket that covered only the parts of interest, because her back was entirely undulating and nude for everyone to see, her hair was disheveled just like Sasuke`s –naughty, naughty and wild, and just like the Priestess, his ebony haired busted friend was half naked and lying _under_ the beautiful Priestess.

Naruto froze like narcotized with a dumb expression spread across his foxy figure, jaw hanging low until it hit the floor, lips drooling like a fish on the hook and when the startled Priestess whipped hear head over her shoulder to peep at the unexpected intruder, the blanket that was hanging low on her form slide from her chest revealing half of her breasts and tummy, but thankfully enough the penumbras that fell on her form and the long tresses covered enough so as she won't be overly exposed to him

She shrieked again, this time, louder when she realized the implication of the completely concupiscent position while Naruto slammed a hand down his orbs pivoting on his feet and hit his nose on the wall with a bump, intending to scurry the heck out of the room, because of God… seeing your best friend who was considered to be completely asexual and frigid actually getting on _it was_ traumatizing.

"–oh my freaking Rasengan! The Bastard and a naked Priestess in the same room doing– the world is coming to an end minna-sama, quickly save all the Ramen– "

Sasuke cut him short finding the absurdity of the situation beating all the records, snarling while Sakura jumped off him back onto the bed and dived under the blankets, still shrieking in embarrassment and this time the Uchiha couldn't blame her. "–get out you fucking idiot."

But said dobe was completely out of it, mumbling incoherent sentences under his breath, and albeit Uchiha had no idea what was he talking about, he could see his lips mumbling and drooling, while his azurite orbs were squeezed lidded and he looked like a kid barging into the room where his parents were trapped in the most compromising of the positions, making love to each other, only this was worse.

Naruto did not process what Sasuke was growling at him while standing up and being soaked in sweat and oozing of sexual frustration –yes, it was so obvious and not even he was trying to hide it.

It was in the moment when Sakura poked her head out of the bed sheets, gripped the nearest pillow which happened to be Sasuke`s and threw it at Naruto with all her force, was the moment when the cerulean eyed friend of her captor has snapped out of his stupor; the pillow hit him hard on his face and sent his head flying backwards, not expecting this since Sakura has somehow managed to throw it with a bit of chakra enhanced force to add to the momentum.

"Auch!" He hit the back of his nape against the wall, stumbling one large step backward, while Sasuke was trapped into that absurd situation, not knowing how to react, so he did not react at all, except for his jaw which was barely closed to prevent from hitting the ground.

This was not happening.

"AHH!" Sakura was still shouting under the blankets for whatever the reason she had, while Naruto whirled on his heel, missing the door once and hitting his nose against the wall one more time before aiming for the door and get out of that horrible situation.

* * *

But of course that being friends with the rest of the abnormal gang, they had perfect timing to add to the already clamor because in the moment when the blonde Uzumaki wanted to literarily make a run for it like Speedy Gonzales high on caffeine, he collided with something strong like a wall of bricks that nearly had him landing on his butt and back into the house of horror.

 _Kiba_ , who found it suspicious that Naruto was taking too much to piss Uchiha Sasuke off decided to check on him, while Suigetsu got comfortable into the living room, being too damn lazy to amuse himself with how their Leader got ruffled by their childish mannerism.

He will have enough time to hear the Uchiha storm down from whatever the heck he was and flare. The Inuzuka male was not in the bit surprised to hear strange noises echoing along the poorly illuminated hall and ignoring the ghostly touch of the depressing place –who didn't know Uchiha Sasuke and the fact the man was in desperate need for a therapy with pink plush bears and plucking daisies, he made his calm way to the room with the open door and familiar noises and already chuckled low on his chest, imagining the comedy developing.

But nothing prepared him for seeing the Uzumaki more dumbfounded than usual, blabbering indecent curses about his friend, the Uchiha standing in a quite strange petrified position like something actually discomfit _him_ and a lump fidgeting under the pile of disheveled bed sheets, with a heavy charged tension lingering all over the room.

 _Sexual tension._

Whistling low at the perplexing situation, and aided by the fact that Sakura chose to emerge from under the bed sheets being completely naked and having the cutest of innocent expressions of his face, the male`s brain wheels whirled and deduced the most logical of conclusions. "Whoa man, a threesome? Hot! Can I join-"

"-Out!" Sasuke nearly shouted upon seeing another riot adding to the already brouhaha barely keeping his trembling at bay at how bloody pissed he was, while his fists were turning an abnormally tinged hue of purple and they scurried out of there like cockroaches upon hearing a gun shooting at them, and it was not because the always commonsensical Uchiha seethe, but because he flipped his _Sharingan_ eyes and pinned them with _that_ type of Uchiha stare which never brought anything good to anyone.

Sakura gasped aloud at the scene, seeing how Sasuke`s friends dashed out of the room like having rockets under their heels, in a very comical manner tripping on their feet and bumping on each other, and then shuffled her emerald orbs to the ebony haired Uchiha who was blazing his abominable family lineage to them, orbs glowing ruby like ancient Chinese dragons and spilling flames from how bad they were narrowed and focused on their forms.

Then they traveled to her form and seeing how much he was censoring his rage, made a lump form in her throat as she swallowed twice to alleviate the tension and a shiver coursed along her spine but she was not entirely positive that it was the consequence of fear or something _else._

Those dangerous yet undeniably filigree beautiful eyes were reproachful and blaming it on her for everything that has happened, but at the same time, they seemed to find it hard to focus on her and bathed in a slight layer of fog that she didn't recognize to be _desire_ _._

"This is so embarrassing, oh dear Kami!" The Priestess deterred from under his scrutinizing stare, but casting her jade orbs down to look on her chest, tucking on the sheets with her small fists, making a comical long face while her face turned a beautiful shade of tomato red.

"So shameful." She mumbled in an obsequious stance that will make anyone grow soft on her just seeing her vulnerable and innocent.

For the love of all, that's holy-

"You don't say? This is all your goddamn fault." He raked a hand through his messy hair more of an annoyance than care about his looks while reverting his bloody orbs to normal obsidian, sighting sharply once and barely keeping the peculiar teetotalism from turning bloody murderous.

"You are so annoying and everything you do ends up in a disaster."

Sakura followed intently how the beautiful male traipsed across the room not even sparing her a single glance as she nuzzled into the sheets, feeling so small and so culpable about the entire situation, while he addressed her one more time from the doorway, in a tone so cold and so hard that made something lacerate her heart in half.

"Stay here, you have caused enough trouble as it is." His chiseled back was the last thing she saw before her face turned blue with sadness and she dived back under the sheets, pouting like a child thinking to herself that this was far more complicated that she first thought.

And her heart was still threatening to a burst of her ribcage, demanding to follow the Uchiha.

* * *

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* * *

Padding downstairs more like in need to take a generous gulp of water –or something strong to quench the _thirst_ from his system, Sasuke found three idiots grinning at him pervertly and decorating his cleaned living room.

He sighed invisibly in a suppressed anger and pinned them with a branded glare which affected neither Kiba nor Suigetsu or Naruto, snarling at them. "What are you doing here at _this_ hour?" Not that he was sleeping to begin with, but it was 0:30 a.m. and no decent person would disturb anyone at such an unholy hour unless there was an emergency.

"Naruto figured that you might be brooding here alone and depressed and thus thought about joining you for some late night booze between men."

Suigetsu snorted at Kiba`s response knowing that every single word that will now fly off their mocking mouths will only add to his already rage, making it more amusing than it was.

"In reality, we were dying to see the beautiful flower that you keep hidden in your little Vampire den, figuring that someone so boring like you won't keep the lady properly _entertained_. Guess we got it wrong `cos boy," he eyed the Uchiha up and down focusing on his nipple which was clearly bruised, and noticing that his hair was messy and jos alabaster skin sweaty. "ain`t the case here. Is that a… _hickey_ on your chest?"

An award moment of quietude while they were comically popping their orbs out of their sockets, while looked at Sasuke`s chest, was followed by the three males gasping aloud, before they exploded in hysterics. "Bhahaha, ain`t that chick a feisty one, ne Sasuke?"

Suigetsu tittered like an original pervert somehow mirroring the type of snake hissing cackles that only Orochimaru was capable of creating, while Naruto and Kiba were hollering atop their lungs, making the Uchiha cringe. "Who would have thought that the innocent lamb can turn into this rapacious lioness?"

Of course that Naruto and Kiba have been quick in filling Suigetsu up about what have they witnessed into his room and that only caused a ruckus in their circle and the wild guesses began short after.

So much for the eternally _virgin_ Uchiha Sasuke who didn't care about women. It seemed that it was not interest the thing he was lacking, but that sophisticated bastard was a picky bastard with good taste in women.

"Has she _marked_ her territory already?" That comment of Kiba had them choke on their spit and Sasuke nearly lost his cool and spammed Amaterasu on the three laughing imbeciles. He couldn't believe that this shit was happening.

The comment about the Priestess suckling on him and leaving a visible mark almost had him fly off the handle and still preserving the idiosyncratic equanimity was becoming a real challenge.

"Wait until _Karin_ finds out about this. Man, she will chop off your balls then go hunt the little Priestess down, albeit I have heard that she is quite the skilled kunoichi. I mean... she even gave _you_ a run for your money and outsmarted you and not to mention that she broke your balls man!"

Namely, he didn't get to _fuck_ her in the forest for she had a clone prepared beforehand to fool him. That earned another effervescent laughter from the three men.

They got comfortable into the spacious living room decorating his furniture, throwing their asses on the sofa and armchair and resting their feet on the coffee table like they were at the bar, much to Sasuke`s horror. His father would have throttled them for this inelegant behavior.

"You guys," he started low and Naruto was the only one stopping laughing upon seeing the look on Sasuke`s crunched in anger mien. "get your asses out of my home before I personally remove your pathetic excuse of a–"

* * *

Before the enraged Uchiha had the chance to finish off his elaborated threat, _Sakura_ found this moment appropriate to embarrass him further by marching downstairs wrapped in _his_ dark long sleeved blouse with the Uchiha crest ebbed on its back and smiles sheepishly apologetic, singing like a nightingale to the group of men.

"–I am sorry for disturbing you," All the orbs in the room flew to the young Priestess, landing on her creamy exposed long legs as they budged out of their sockets like in cartoons and the entire situation was funny by default.

Even Sasuke`s eyebrows shot up at her unexpected appearance after he personally demanded her to remain in his room, but no one caught his moment with the guard dropped because Sakura stole the thunder with a messy sexy appearance and a totally innocent look in her apologetic eyes.

"I came here to clear up some of the confusion that might arouse from this embarrassing experience and assure you that _nothing_ concupiscent has happened between us. Sasuke was only _warming_ me up because I was feverish."

Their cheeks got a dark shade of red upon imagining what exactly has the Priestess meant by taking care of her _fever,_ while Sasuke was dripping venom from his spitfire eyes and his teeth were clattering as his maxillaries were pressed tight. That woman was completely dumb.

This didn't clarify anything, on the contrary, she was making it all the worst and suspicious. Kiba was the first to slice that uncomfortable quietude before anyone else had the chance to ask something even dumber.

"Keeping you warm and cozy huh? How about we trade places Sasuke?" He turned to the male burst out laughing with Suigetsu and Naruto seeing his expression nearly wanting to strangle them all.

No seriously, it was a miracle that Sasuke has successfully managed to keep his composure up until now and not unleash Hell on them for all that preposterous scene, not having any idea of who to murder up first because, at this moment, they all made him fly off the handle.

The Priestess was pinned on the half of the stairs, with a hand curled around the railing and posing like a runaway hot model in a fancy lingerie collection and looking more tempting than fine cognac and chocolate, looking in a way that made him wonder whether this woman was sicker than Orochimaru and took pleasure in torturing his mind, or completely oblivious, while his 'friends' were begging for a good beating.

But of course that when a situation went from ridiculous to completely unbelievable, something _else_ must make it even more contemptible.

Uzumaki _Karin_ burst into the house like a violent hurricane being her volcanic and obstreperous ornery self and hollering in her husky dramatic soprano timbre.

"Sasuke! Wake up I need to warn you about three idiot people plotting to disturb–" She stopped like a lamb hit by trucks dead in her tracks seeing the ridiculous scene and the people adorning the living room but of course that her eyes that were filled with female intuition landed exactly on Sakura and then she seethed. "–what the fuck is going on there? And why is _she_ half naked and wearing," she sniffled her nostrils like a dog before her orbs turned wide like saucers. " _your_ clothes _again?_ " Sasuke had no expression on his face, being absolutely blank and kept silent.

Suigetsu wiped a tear from his aquamarine eyes at how bad he was laughing on the couch, realizing how that entire scene looked like, barely keeping his coherence.

"Obviously because they were making _love_ to each other upstairs until we came and interrupted, otherwise they would have still been going at it like rabbits!"

Somehow Suigetsu found it inappropriate to say that they were _fucking_ each other`s brains out, because the Priestess was so delicate and this he could not envision her in such lascivious positions and doing all the things that were now running through his mind and nor was Sasuke striking as a barbarious male.

Shockingly, it was Uchiha the one to hiss the words to him projecting an aura so maleficent that nearly had the room burst out laughing in hysterics.

Karin nearly fainted, a hand landing atop her heart as the face she made was a horrified one, while Sakura turned tomato red and tucked on his shirt, melting into the floor, mumbling something incoherent in her defense but no one heard her because of Karin screaming until the walls shook from the foundation. "You did WHAT?! Oh my, God, Sasuke is this true?!"

"You," the Uchiha didn't even choose to acknowledge her because he was trembling in fury trying to compose himself in vain "get the fuck OUT of my home, now! I do not care about any reason that you might have for disturbing me from my slumber and since _you_ are here instead of Shikamaru, Jūgo, Sai or Yamato then it means that there is nothing urgent to require me to handle it, so fuck. off."

"I am not moving a finger until you answer my question Sasuke," Karin was fuming traipsing into the room with hard steps, stomping like a soldier and pointing her finger in Uchiha`s face. "what is _she_ still doing here in _your_ house and why is she so _cozy_ with you?"

They couldn`t have been doing what those losers suggested now, could they? Albeit, they both looked messy, sweaty and... oh God the Priestess was drapped in Sasuke`s clothes. Oh no no NO...

Abruptly, Karin turned to Sakura who was looking at her apologetically and curious totally NOT fazed by her outburst, and beat Karin by exuding a nonchalant calmness -one that was foolish and so innocent and cute that only had Kiba, Naruto, and Suigetsu chokes dead laughing at them.

They were gripping their tummies because the comedy was at its epitome. "you… you are such a _whore_! Don't you have any self-pride to parade naked in a man`s house especially when he lives _alone_?!"

"Heh, like you are the one to talk about _modesty_ Karin," Kiba was the one to find coherence beating Suigetsu at this. "are you afraid of some _competition_?" He pointed to her attire, flirty attitude, and Sakura`s beauty all merged into the most absurd rivalry situation between women.

"Though I understand where you come from Karin, for I too would be jealous on such a hot babe." He winked at Sakura who frowned at the choice of colloquial slang not quite understanding the meaning of it.

"What is a... _babe_? I am pretty positive that I fall into the category of an _adult_ woman and not a young girl." She mistook it for baby. Kiba has blinked at her several times, Naruto fell on the ground rolling on the carpet with Suigetsu burying his face into a pillow, while Karin turned tomato red like her hair and Sasuke… well, no one paid attention to him but the face of the Uchiha was something that not even the Egyptians could depict through their hieroglyphs, it was completely unreadable and comical to the point of unbelievable, he was frozen by the absurd situation.

Quickly and paranoid, he checked his chakra to make sure that he didn't fell under a Genjutsu because it was that ridiculous.

They were unbelievable. Never in his life has he felt the need to murder so many people in such a short amount of time like now, starting with the Priestess because everything was being her own fucking fault.

Just seeing her dressed in _his_ clothes, with long model legs bare and her curves poking from his cotton fabric, after she aroused him with her ministrations then punched him square into the face was something that did funny things to Sasuke for he wanted to both throttle her for embarrassing him in front of his comrades and _fuck_ her senseless right into that damn living room, without caring about the spectators.

"Are you possibly retarded or just mistake us for a bunch of fools?" Karin shook her head glimmering and nearly rubbing her ears not quite understanding what her game was. "What are you doing here?"

Sakura`s answer, so simple and honest made the rather intelligent Karin Uzumaki look like a total cretin. "I am his prisoner."

She spoke the obvious showing the woman her wrists that were glowing with a very dark purple radiance, clearly resonating to how the owner –who was close to the scene, felt and it was not so pleasant looking. "Sasuke keeps me here as a captive."

"Which means that they are into _role playing_ ," Suigetsu couldn't help himself albeit a pang of jealousy and competition for the Priestess aroused.

Clearly, Uchiha didn't know how to fructify the chance with this woman who was at his mercy, not knowing that she was keeping him at bay with the psychological battle, fighting him mentally and fucking up with his brain.

"my-my _Leader-sama_ ," He turned to mock the furious Uchiha who looked like ready to strangle him, a thing that he was clearly doing mentally. "I had no idea that you were that _kinky._ "

"Shut up or I'm going to vent on you, you dumbass shark breath," Karin snapped at the Suiton user Nin then back to the Uchiha who stood there unemotional in his usual laconic self-fueling their fantasies and assumptions by not denying or confirming their surmises, which was not playing in their favor.

"I am telling you this one time and I hope you get it right for the first time, you little minx," She started to threaten Sakura much to the others amusement, her index finger fluttering in her direction and pointing to the sky, like lecturing her. "Sasuke is not _yours_ and he is totally _so_ out of _your_ league, so stop trying to be the victim and seduce him like a little whore playing the innocent lamb, got it?"

There came Sakura`s totally innocent and _smart_ answer and she was so cute and seemingly pure amidst angry wolves that no one could get mad at her, except for Sasuke who got the vibe that the Priestess was simply playing the smartest of games –she was beating them at their own game by not responding to anger with more chagrin.

"But I _am_ a victim by default since I am in no position to defend myself. Albeit, he did not mistreat me in any way on the contrary Sasuke is treating me quite polite-"

"-enough." It was in this moment when Sasuke snapped out of his stupor and found coherence again, stopping the ramble off that pink haired idiotic Priestess before her preaching words made some more damage and stir the flamboyant volcano that was Karin in her rage of claim on him and outbursts of jealousy. "All of you get _out_ , now."

"Nah, this shit is getting too funny and besides we are here to _celebrate_ our victory, of course, we had no idea that you guys decided to have a private _party_ without inviting us over, how nasty of ya`." Suigetsu started randomly, sinking into the lush sofa and taking off a bear, he took a generous gulp while Naruto was munching the food their brought, enjoying the show and looking like they had a get together and hit the cinemas.

At the word _party_ and how light they were albeit they were mocking her and Uchiha Sasuke, Sakura couldn't help but smile at the friendship and she felt bad for this Karin woman because underneath the façade of cold woman with independent feminist tendencies and upheaval of jealousy, she seemed to be clearly affected by Sasuke`s rejection at her feelings and this made her own heart pang.

If only she could help this woman who was helplessly in love with Uchiha get close to him and play the Cupid, the Priestess will happily do it.

Albeit… why has something brisk and unidentified coursed along her spine in the moment when she envisioned Sasuke with _another_ woman like the sudden twinge of _possession_ and _sadness_ clamped her chest and coated her heart into this immeasurable emptiness, if she definitely didn't have any claim on him or feelings for him, except for pity, sympathy, understanding and the need to pull him out of his misery?

Of course that it was pure inexperience and those feelings that were premiere for Sakura the reason why someone with her astute intuition and wisdom failed to notice that what she felt mirrored Karin`s tortuous sentiments perfectly for she was feeling the same sentiments of _jealousy_ as her, but unlike Karin, Sakura was selfless and more innocent than the female Uzumaki and definitely more discreet, subtle and delicate.

"Under no circumstance will I ever party with that _woman_ around, this is highly offensive and not to mention ridiculous. I totally refuse." Karin stomped on her feet, crossing her arms and pushing her glasses up.

Kiba brushed her off with a sudden jerk of his shoulders, like the Uzumaki female was someone unimporant in their group. "Then feel free to go, no one stops you."

Where those people commanding in _his_ home? A violent sense to dominate and show up posession of his own belongings churned inside his chest and Sasuke snapped at them again. "Which part of getting out of my property failed to register into your empty skulls, you guys?" He so loathed them when they ignored him on purpose.

What Uchiha ever got ignored and those who attempted something so foolish have not paied with their lives for it?

Then he personally turned to Karin not snarling like he did to the guys but the coldness he displayed lacerated her like his very katana Chidori-infused technique running through her chest, hurting her beyond belief.

"And Karin, I will make it clear for you that there is absolutely _nothing_ going on between us, except for _camaraderie_. Your intelligence, conniving skills, intuition and special sensory abilities is the only thing that I am in need for so do not misunderstand this convenient _partnership_ for something more that only exists in _your_ brain."

A moment of total awkward quiescence that was so hard to digest and swallow, that fell like an iron mantle upon everyone`s shoulders and albeit Karin held Sasuke's gaze all the time bravely not backing away from him, the hurt in her wine orbs was palpable, albeit it did not faze the Uchiha because he has always been honest with her about his feelings, never making out something that was definitely not and fuel her hopes in vain.

He was not being cruel and impolite and it was visible that his manner of speaking with her was a tad gentler than how he sneered at his man friends, but he was sincere and blunt –a characteristic trait. "Wow," Kiba was the one to break that shattering silence whistling low on his chest, cackling humorlessly and sipping from his beer. "straight to the point, heh? Like always."

But he knew perfectly well the reason why he got a nudge in the ribs from the other Uzumaki besides him from that totally unnecessarily comment but Kiba simply shrugged it off.

Yes he will never try to hide the fact that at some point he too has been infatuated with Karin taking a liking on the woman and maybe he still was, but having her fawn over a man who never shown romantic interest in her and never gave her any hint that he was interested and seeing her chase after him after all his harsh rejection, was pathetic and made him sick to his stomach.

And the silent competition that he felt as a rivalry between him and Uchiha Sasuke was only fueling those impulses to taunt Karin for her stupidity.

Plus, seeing how she was being so mortified and petrified while Sasuke has shut her mouth in front of so many witnesses was pure comedy.

It was in moments like this when Karin could hardly find the power to be the forward convinced feminist and levelheaded woman who can stand up for herself and show a more _vulnerable soft_ side, one that was more attractive than this twisted side that could be depicted as Orochimaru`s sadist influence.

Naruto was hissing beside him and silently scolding his friend for making fun of the others` feelings, something that no one had the right to do –like they did to him, simply because if they were genuine then who were they to judge on the others?

Plus Karin had this fighting spirit of never giving up , even if it was something as stupid as a one-sided love and Naruto admired her steady feelings and character for this particular reason.

Suigetsu was having a similar expression on his face like Sasuke`s one, albeit his was more like surprised and lacked the proper words seemingly blank, unlike the Uchiha who was stern, hard, apathetic and detached and incredibly cold.

Even Sakura felt this coldness wrapped around her wrists and it coursed through her spine, having nothing to do with the fever that has significantly dropped down.

And shocking it was her the one to speak up after Kiba and the words that rolled out of her mouth, so sincere and helplessly innocent that almost had them take a double look at her and see if she had a harp on her hand and was floating on a plush cloud.

"Do not worry about his apparently detached behavior," She took a moment to remember this woman`s name but all the orbs shuffled on her form as she gave the Uzumaki female a warm and mollifying smile, which lacked any malice intent. "because Sasuke is not this uncaring person like he wants the others to believe and I do believe that he has a _more affectionate_ side that he keeps buried inside his heart because he wants to keep anyone at distance," here is when her voice turned like a hymn of love on a Grand Piano and illuminated the entire atmosphere but the shock came with what she said next. "otherwise, he wouldn't have _kissed_ me twice before."

The three men completely dropped their jaws orbs popping out of their sockets and rolled on the floor, Sasuke who couldn't comprehend who in the world could she have said something like barely found the power to keep his jaw from dropping and gasp like an idiotic but his slightly fetched up eyebrows was automatic and Karin… here is where she attracted all the attention to her.

She literarily fainted on the middle of the room.

* * *

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* * *

Moony overtired orbs were trying very hard not to drift into slumber as they kept focused in front of them, to the diaphanous form of their female counterpart, as the silhouette was entrapped into a peculiar stance of Zen meditation that has been going on through their family for ages.

"Are you sure that this will not harm your chakra points and vessels, Lady Hinata-sama?" Neji spoke low, incredibly low, unusually mollifying and lacking that idiosyncratic commanding resonance that stirred respect, as he stood on the darkest side of his damp cell on the hard concrete, a leg bent under him and the other stretched nonchalantly while looking at his girl cousin through the bars of their cells.

Hinata was dropped in _Hankafuza_ stance –the Half Lotus Position of Zen Meditation for an hour already, unmoving and being completely relaxed with her face serene, unperturbed and seemingly to have her spirit already leaving her body and floating somewhere above their cells, finding its enfranchisement and albeit her mind was running like a treadmill, not a single muscle was pulled from her elegant body or creased his regal visage.

And so were the tone of her melodious light soprano voice resonating with a surprising composure, a bit of attitude and losing the demure stuttering that made her a shy and unconfident person, now sounding like a strong ripen woman, exploring the wonders of her stillness in perfect balance to her inner self and the latent power residing inside her, trying to mentally break the hinges of her restraining Jutsu through expert focusing of her thoughts that were amassed in one single spot and preventing them from wandering and scattering like pearls on a broken necklace, breathing to her cousin.

"Yes, I am positive, Neji-nii-san. Please do not worry about me, I know what I am doing." It was rare to hear this side of a non-stuttering Hyuga Hinata, but Neji has been a company along this sinuous road to finding her inner strength and amidst the entire Hyuga family, Hinata was the most blessed one with the gift of acquiring inner peace that stood between the road of sin and Nirvana and she was tremendously improving day by day.

She has been practicing meditation for years now and she was an expert on it and albeit she was not that gifted in the Ninja arts of amazing explosive just us, the Hyuga heiress was versatile in exploring her inner strength and the depths of her spirit, pretty much like the Priestess of Tea herself.

Women in the Land of Fire especially kunoichi were taught to fructify the art of meditation to keep their composure in every situation and unlock the hidden powers that made them apparently inferior to the male shinobi, surpassing them in this refined aspects, because they were naturally more prolific with their chakra control and had more patience.

And Hinata was among the best of the best. Her hands were resting soundly atop the crests of her bent knees, legs folded in the distinctive stance and her spine straight as a fir tree, giving her an ethereal aura of intangibility and strength, albeit she was imprisoned and looked like a glass doll fragile and breakable and this oxymoron was something made Hinata a glowing elegant Goddess.

"Are you trying to summon up your chakra and break the Jutsu?" Neji`s hushed words rolled as a soft zephyr, mindful not to cause suspicion among the enemy guards, being thankful that they were focused on whatever business they had with Ino and chose not to wander through the last row of cells where the two Hyuuga were being captives –and foolishly, tossed like pieces of garbage, waiting for the sentence.

"I have been trying it for a while without success, unfortunately. I cannot unlock my chakra points, the Jutsu creates a block similar to our Byakugan`s power."

It was not like Neji was a mopey crybaby who was wailing and lamenting without doing nothing to try and gain his freedom, for he was not the former Army Commandant for nothing.

After taking a respectable moment to grieve over his deceased fiancé and their baby, Neji has gotten a hold of himself and tried to decipher the code of the technique and use his fine Hyuga lineage to try and make it come undone, in vain.

That Jutsu that kept his chakra restrained was elaborated, strong and precise and it formed some kind of iron doors at the end of their chakra vessels, needing the proper key to unlock it.

Knowing that the Hyuga were the finest when it came to the epitome of chakra control being able to penetrate till the abysses of their chakra reserves and expertly manipulate the flow of it, Neji tried to explore his own and try to find out a breach into the nets, without success. That jutsu was flawless and this didn't surprise him since the enemy was undeniably strong.

So this is the reason why he was so curious about what was Hinata planning to do and it was not the fact that he was doubting her shinobi skills, but because she seemed to have a similar approach and thus Neji didn't want his girl cousin to try in vain and put her life in danger, because he was positive that no one will come to her rescue and lose her will definitely make him go insane.

Hinata was all sensible about the things that were churning into Neji`s mind so this was the reason while her lush lips moved, breathing every word so that not to break the aura created with sheer concentration, responding to him and putting him to ease that she was the cautious smart eye who will never risk in vain.

"I found a faint almost imperceptible trace of my chakra that I have managed to draw and suppress it to the point it became invisible to the Jutsu they use and I can use it to channel it to my fingertips."

Neji`s sateen orbs took a glint of hope upon hearing what Hinata was disclosing to him speaking almost inaudible so as not to risk to be heard.

Thankfully enough the other colleagues from the other cells had enough common sense not to cause a ruckus and attract unnecessary attention or disturb their conversation, being calm and letting them try to concoct a plan to take them all out of there.

"Nani? How is this possible? Are you capable of breaking the Jutsu or unlocking your chakra points?"

Did she conceal a portion of her chakra from the Jutsu? This was incredible. Not only this type of chakra control demanded a sublime focus and precision in manipulating the flow of it, but also to remain level headed enough to devise such a scheme and find a break in such a short span of time, while being under such pressure and Neji couldn't help but inwardly praise her cousin.

So many years has Hinata endured the damnation of her father and the blame for not embodying the perfect picture of a Hyuga heiress, deeming her as weak and too soft-hearted, but she has also been considered unworthy of the family name, a reject and a useless asset into the family, but she never lose her spirit and now she proved it to be stronger than anyone else in the Hyuga family, demonstrating it that sheer brute force or inborn genius was clearly _not_ enough to become a splendid shinobi; it took more than just talent.

It didn't need her to explain it to him the mechanism of her approach, but Neji tried to digest it and see if he could do the same, but he understood that she must have had an ulterior motive.

"Such a weak amount of chakra cannot break through this Jutsu, Lady Hinata. You must enhance its power somehow." This is what he had in mind when she started meditating.

But Hinata shocked him once again with her response as her delicate eyebrows seemed to span to the bridge of her nose in a semi-frown, signalizing that the Hyuga heiress was reaching the climax of whatever technique she was concocting.

"This s true, but I will not use this to try and force the locks to every chakra vessel," because that would be dumb and plain irresponsible, not to mention it will never work. "I will use it to draw the chakra from someone _else_ subtly without being noticed, until I decide that I have enough to focus it through the Second Gate of the chakra net and open it up so as to force the locks to open at once, because of the amassing pressure throughout my chakra network."

Ok, that sounded like a good scenario and putting aside the part where Hinata confessed to being capable of unlocking the famous Chakra Gates by herself, another suspicion immediately arouses into his mind.

"When you say that you are going to steal chakra from someone else, who would that person be? Because not only this is difficult to do in order to pass unnoticed, but we are stuck in this cell and the only person visiting us is that bipolar Juugo person and I highly doubt that you will want to risk stealing it from him."

Stealing chakra also required a special ability and there were probably a handful of shinobi across the Five Nations to be able to do something like this, but a Hyuga with their amazing chakra control was a different story because if they had the full manipulation of chakra and control in the palm of their hands, then nothing was impossible to hem.

It was in that moment when Hinata opened up her lunar lilac orbs that glimmered like two round full moons and graced her cousin with a smile that hid something that Neji has never ever witnessed in her ever before –mischievous intent and tortuous ambition.

"I am not intending to steal the chakra from the guard Juugo. I am planning to steal bits of Uzumaki _Naruto`s_ immensurable pools of chakra. This is the reason why I want to lure him to me and approach me as much as I can, in order for him not to realize what I want to do."

So this is why the Hyuga heiress was declared that she needed the Uzumaki to be in her proximity and touch her, get physical and close to her while she appeared to be submissive, in need for protection and gain his trust, while in reality, she will use his chakra to break the Jutsu that kept her own chakra locked.

Brilliant! "Hinata-sama, this is very dangerous what you are trying to do and not to mention that if you are being found, then there is no guarantee that they will let you alive."

Neji had no doubt that Uchiha and Uzumaki will have no problem in executing her right on the spot for attempting such a stunt.

Surprisingly, Hinata shook her head keeping her calmness and composure, and resembling a lotus flower floating unperturbed on the crystalline waters of a mountain lake during the night, being serene, calm and so beautiful.

"There is no other way, Neji-nii-san. For us to have the slightest chance to break free from this prison, then we have to take the risk. And albeit my heart spews of shame for having to indulge in this kind of disgraceful approach, I have no choice but to act like this inelegant woman and approach a man with an ulterior motive."

He knew that the Hyuga was highly cultivated and such a lascivious behavior was taboo in a family like theirs, but she was right, she had no choice but to flirt with him and seduce the Uzumaki so as to make him drop his guard, while she worked magic.

Kami may help him not break in hysterics at what type of _events_ he will be subject to if she succeeds. The last thing in the world that Neji wanted to see was how Hinata will charm Uzumaki Naruto… the _man._

"For this technique to work, Naruto Uzumaki has to _touch_ me as many times as possible." He could detect the hurt in her voice and the smothered fright that she was tiring to conquer through meditation, albeit she was good to hide it, for now, determination gleaming into her orbs like sea foam brushing over the shoreline.

"Just… do not mention it, Lady Hinata-sama. My head hurts whenever I start to think about it."

* * *

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* * *

"Sasuke is making our job far easier for us without even noticing." Half turned he stood with the orange mask ensconcing his mien from the world to see, gazing apparently absentmindedly at the heavy droplets of _rain_ percolating against the tall buildings, all enhancing the shades of grey that veiled the tall radio buildings and making it look like the sky never stopped grieving in Amegakure, thus the symbolic name.

Also, the crystalline droplets were the silent companions and faithful spies of the Leader who was slowly making his menacing presence be known, lurking from the rooftop of the highest tower resembling the perilous face of a haunting Joker, all adding to the ominous depressing atmosphere and addressing the other cloaked male on a flat robotic tone that betrayed absolutely no emotion, albeit he was utterly calm and stoic. "What do you mean by that?"

A pair of glowing _purple_ orbs puckered by the unmistakable fractal spirals pattern of the legendary Rinnegan fixed to the tall peaks of the heavily industrialized city grazing the iron sky.

His companion whose double identity consisted in being the real puppet master pulling the strings of the Akatsuki from the lurking shadows spoke in a similar fashion, albeit his lone visible eye, equally menacing and notorious in a bloody color held something even stronger than the dream of the Rinnegan beholder that was polarized to his dream of peace, something that swayed between genuine vision for a revolution and selfishness and corruption. "He has imprisoned the keeper of the _Fruit of Chakra_."

Which has finally assured them an immediate victory once they plan to invade the Hidden Leaf and capture that woman and drain her of all the life force by using Sakura and the force she was guarding as a catalyst for their supreme plan. "He captured the Priestess of Tea without knowing what she is _truly_ guarding."

There were not many who were in the possession of information about the history of the shinobi and their ancestral origins, but two of the ones who have been granted the enlightenment with finding out about a certain Fruit that was the offspring of the _Divine Tree_ that has been a gift from a faraway civilization for humans to guard, which could grant the one who consumed it the powers of a God –the power to change the face of the world and bring _peace_ to the shinobi word, which was always shattered by endless conflicts, resulting in dramas, tragedies and lost destinies.

Just like the once orphans that were the symbol of Amegakure and the faces of Akatsuki`s Leaders –the man who possessed the Rinnegan, _Pein_ and his associate who claimed to be the ghost of a legendary figure of the past, Uchiha Madara, concealing his identity behind a bipolar goofy face that went by the name of _Tobi_ in the organization.

A lone purple haired beauty whose angelic features placed her on a pedestal in the brainwashed minds of the inhabitants of the never-ending grieving city intervened into the conversation, as being amidst the privileged most committed companions of the man who branded himself with the title of a _God_ and has shared his pain from the very beginning, never leaving his side and consequently being aware of all his deepest secrets. "I suppose that you want Pein to capture this woman from Uchiha Sasuke and bring her to us so that we can extract the chakra from the **fruit**."

"Partly yes, albeit this is not the best of the moments to do that and more. The Priestess of Tea has the key to unlock that power and she also possesses a unique energy inherited from the former priestess who went before her. She has Tsunade Senju`s healing ability and along with this… the power to bring up the _dead_ which conveniently helps me unlock the latent potential of the _Sharingan._ "

An endless chain of Priestesses have been safeguarding the inestimable treasure that no other shinobi were familiar with somewhere in a secluded place that only they knew the location of and they were so hard to find because of the fact that they wrapped their identities in a thick veil of mystery, being trained as small little girls with no concept about how the world went by, remain uncorrupted and pure because only someone who was not blinded by the power was entitled the honor to protect it from falling into the hands of someone who might become its prisoner.

And that was the basic concept of the rotation of the Priestesses and their innocent minds and bodies; uncorrupted strong kunoichi who were bearing a tremendous secret with the price of their lives, holding the key to unlock the greatest of the Godly powers of a shinobi and now, courtesy to an Uchiha who blatantly _refused_ to honor Madara`s invitation to partake to their plan, Sasuke has made their job of locating the current Priestess of Tea a lot more easier.

And the next step of the plan has begun with the one overly known as Tobi dashing into the shadows and dissipating into the lush curtain of heavy rain drops with a bright lightning bolt that strike close to the tower, leaving Pein and Konan behind to go on with their machinations.

The Priestess of **Tea** was having the location of the Chakra Fruit hidden in its symbol, namely the symbol of the endless green oceans of tea **leaves** ; the Priestess and the Fruit were hiding in the **Leaf** Village whose main source of income was the trading of green **tea** lives and that was the Akatsuki's next location.

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A/N:

Well yeah I felt the need to add some more fluff between Sasuke and Sakura and I hope that it doesn't seem rushed but I am literarily dying to write the lemons scenes between them, but I have to slowly build those moments up so as to make sense when it comes to it. I just pray that the first part of the story was not boring.

I was laughing while adding what I deem to be comedy with the guys and the idea of Naruto catching Sasuke and Sakura in such circumstances is something that I simply couldn't refrain from using; it is pure comedy by default. I hope that you guys found it funny as well and not that much of a… filler.

When I started to write the first chapter for this story I didn't even have a plot in mind, but now I have managed to concoct something by following the main elements and events of the actual manga, of course, with a twist. I like the idea of the Chakra Fruit and the Divine Tree and this is how I managed to somehow come with a plausible explanation for the title of a Priestess of Tea. I hope that part made sense.

Now, just like **ElevatedJewel-sama** has once said in a review, I am not even trying to top the version of Hinata that I created for my story 'Morphine', for this story will have her as a side character, when in Morphine Hinata has a more important role and that character of her is something that I meticulously focus on because it is one of the original things that I created especially for that story. It was never my intention to try and outshadow that Hinata, but I will try and make Hinata in this story another strong female. You know it guys that I hate the concept of weak females, and although I never tend to focus on their physical strength, I like the idea of a mentally and spiritually strong women. I hope I will succeed in not making them stale, cliché and not enhancing their strong parts from the manga. My brain could only come up with that plan that Hinata has to both escape and approach Naruto and eventually let a romance unfold… bah, who am I trying to fool here? I am an incurable totally helpless romantic person so naturally there will be muuuch romance… and drama.

I loved Obito/Tobi twist in the manga and all the ordeal with Pein and Konan as villains, so do not hate me for using them. They are cool!

I am thrilled to know that you guys liked the part with the koi pond and the one that snuck into Sasuke`s pants and found it funny. I cannot help myself but use comedy, since I am a funny person by nature and if I can make you guys laugh then I will do it, believe it! I don't want the atmosphere to be so serious and dark… there will be enough time for that later on.

Ah… before I forget… have I ever mentioned that I like Karin`s character? I don't want to fall into a pretty cliché category and make her insufferable or that insufferable on the point where her good parts are not emphasized. I will try to make her tad more likable in this story, as much as not to drift from her personality in the manga, but give her a bit more justice. I hope I will succeed in that.

Again, I am stunned at the amount of feedback that this story gets and for this I am absolutely honored and thankful to you guys – **Maram, Guest, Urbiggestfan, maufullbuster21, C.S, Guest , Guest , Guest, MademoiselleRED , Yami no Emi , guest, Guest, anime1angel , Betelguese, Guest , hifi, Guest.** Albeit I am very aware of the fact that I have a long way to go before considering myself an author worth of all your acclamation and not let it go to my head, I cannot help but tear everytime you mention such beautiful things, telling me how much you enjoy this story and my writing in general.

You know, at first I didn't mean this story to be overall lengthy or suffused with details, only something that came to me out of the blue, but I simply cannot help myself to deliver something superficial because I feel like if I do not try to do my best and make this story as good as I can, then I will not be even halfway capable of properly thank you for all the support; for liking this story like you do.

By the way, to the **Guest** with the review about the koi fish into Sasuke`s pants… you have literarily made me die laughing, your comment is priceless and pure genius my friend. Thank you for brightening up my day!

And please, never ever apologize for not reviewing this story or the fact that you are busy, because I completely understand it that you have a life beyond the virtual world, ok? It is totally cool guys, how can you imagine that I will ever judge you for that? If you ever have a bit of time to share and read this story, I am more than grateful.

And you know what makes me even happier than you reading this story? To hear that you guys are doing well, that your life is good, are healthy and do well on your studies! So please do not worry about something as unimportant as not having time to read, review etc.

Also, I salute you all my **followers** and **silent readers** , you guys make me happy with being willing to read this story and give me a chance, thank you guys!

Thank you minna-sama for everything and for all the support, you are amazing and I love you all!

This being said, I hope that you guys found this chapter more eventful and on your liking, I promise that more Sasuke and Sakura moments will come up in the next update –in fact, this chapter was split up and I let another scene between them for the next one.

Till later…


	11. Confrontation

**::Chapter XI – Confrontation::**

* * *

Two men were the ones to rush to the woman who fell like struck by lightning in a comatose induced state and they were Sasuke and Kiba who were also the closest ones to her. Sakura joggled down the stairs, concern ebbed into her gentle tone.

"Oh my, I think that she had an emotional breakdown." Throwing a peep at Sasuke who easily gathered the woman into his arms and placed her gently on the sofa glaring at Suigetsu to move his ass and make some place for the red haired Uzumaki female, reproaching him bravely. "Your words were too harsh and hurt her."

Harsh would be a little bit too lenient to describe his calloused words because albeit he refrained from using indecent insults, the meaning behind it and the coldness of his inflection clearly stating it without censoring himself that he pampered no romantic feelings for the woman hurt Karin more than if Sasuke would have been more provocative in his language, but less reticent.

As a woman herself –one who inwardly started to feel something for the handsome Uchiha, Sakura felt the pang in Karin`s chest like it has slayed over her own and she felt so sorry for the red haired Uzumaki and a little bit edgy of how should she approach her seeing that Karin was not taking a liking on the Priestess and for good reasons. Sasuke seemed to behave like a different person around Sakura and someone as intuitive as Karin immediately perceived it.

Meanwhile, Suigetsu and Naruto and even Kiba whose visage was not immersed into a dumb befuddled expression were recovering from the shock that Sakura`s spontaneous confession has stirred, not actually believing their ears that all the rumors about the two of them getting affectionate with each other were actually true.

And while they were still trapped into a round of dropped jaws, Sasuke drew his fine eyebrows into a semi frown and sent Sakura an impulsive meaningful glare as she came beside him to look at a listless Karin seemingly concerned. Was she scolding him?

Sakura in return didn't even acknowledge his pointed glare because her point of interest was the listless woman. And that made Sasuke genuinely curious.

Why in the word was the Priestess so absorbed into her role, now that she wasn't safeguarding her Shrine anymore?

No one around actually cared about her wellbeing so could she stop being so hypocrite and pretend to fill her purpose as an all forgiving saint while she was surrounded by a bunch of demons, of all types, sizes and colors?

Or maybe it was the fact that she was surrounded by evil the thing that made her shine like a diamond carved into solid lifeless rock; maybe the Priestess of Tea was indeed pure in thoughts and honest in her care about the others. Sasuke has never seen someone so hospitable and worried about the others, except for his mother.

Uchiha Mikoto was the first one to visit the newborn Naruto at the hospital after Kushina`s sacrifice and feel genuine pity and concern for her son.

Similarly, the Priestess was oozing of the same kindness than his mother`s and even more than hers since she was displaying it in front of strangers who hated her in return.

Not surprisingly, it was Suigetsu the one to infuse a dosage of sarcasm into the stoic grim atmosphere, grinning from ear to ear and winking at the three people before him who were trapped into an awkward situation. "Wow, I felt it that coming here tonight will be funny."

Kiba on the other hand joined Naruto into a mindless session of talking behind Sasuke`s back, albeit they were so close to him that everybody heard what they were trying to hush to one another, leaning forward to whisper to the blonde.

" Sasuke…. kissed a _woman_?! By himself? Without anyone to force him? On the lips? Fucking Hell."

Naruto only nodded energetically to him because that was the gossip of the century. Sakura didn't have a solid reason to lie about something like that and the totally indecipherable struck expression of Sasuke in the moment when she dropped something so shocking to them was saying enough.

Sasuke bit back an acerbic retort because he won't be the one to fall into their childish trap by taking the cheap bait and respond to the teasing, but inwardly he was scorching their asses with his Amaterasu for daring to assume things about him which would most likely make him cringe in disgust and that damned Priestess dared to ignore him.

Duh, he won't be kissing her in the _ass_ now, would he? Albeit there were some things that he would do with his lips brushing down her tummy and lower until he got to– he shook his head focusing on _Karin_ to forget _Sakura_ and her damned body; that little elfin goblin in disguise was portraying as a saint and paraded almost nude in his freaking home and wearing _his_ clothes.

It was a one time in history moment when Sasuke was granting the red headed Uzumaki so much attention and that was because of his annoying friends _and_ Sakura.

Why couldn't he enjoy some moments of silence to recollect his scattered thoughts and clear up his mind?

Snarling to no one in particular, it was his pressed voice which betrayed just how much he was suppressing an acrimonious comeback. "Go get some water."

It was Sakura the one who stood up and literarily scurried into the kitchen while she knew that she couldn't count on men to be so subtle and keen, and plus she had medical training courtesy to Tsunade Senju so she was on the verge of processing Sasuke`s request down her mind but of course, their telepathy worked flawlessly for he seemed to have been reading her mind all along.

* * *

Naruto found the moment to be appropriate to get more familiar with the beautiful angel and find the truth coming from her mouth as he knew that getting Sasuke into talking about whatever was happening between them would be a laborious job and most likely implying the two of them pummeling each other until they would both collapse and be on the verge of death; God only knows it has happened to them before.

Finding his way to the kitchen where Sakura has dashed without making any ripple in the air and molding into the shadows, the whiskered foxy Uzumaki stumbled upon a rather comical scene.

Sakura was struggling into trying to turn the faucet on but no droplets of water were leaking down the pipeline."Oh? Is this… broken? Should I try to twist it counter clock wise?" Sakura was pouting comically grimacing down to the sink and having a monologue.

Naruto suppressed a titter at her cute shenanigans finding it almost ironic how someone as docile as this woman was capable of infusing so much restraint over someone like Sasuke Uchiha.

But if he pondered about the opposing poles and the chemical attraction of two colliding forces, then they made perfect sense as a couple.

The Priestess was everything that Sasuke was not; a dulcet bouquet of serenity, love, happiness, care, warmth and rainbows.

"You are twisting it in the wrong way." She nearly jumped in surprise when a voice came from behind her. She beamed a short smile while Naruto explained the issue with old rusty faucets.

"The Bastard said that he will change that as soon as he has time. Knowing him, he would have done it earlier but," here is where he's whispered and turned like a gasping kid discovering the treasure nest. "I see that he was kinda _busy_."

A mischievous smirk complimented the blush on Sakura`s cheeks as she caught the not so subtle innuendo but somehow, it came more as an amusing teaser than a rude remark.

Averting her emerald orbs from his big azurite ones, Sakura turned back to face the sink and continued to turn the faucet until cool water oozed along her fingertips. "Not in the way you are thinking about. It was not in my intention to make his situation uncomfortable. This happens when you have been on your own always. I do not know how to censor myself,how to act or what to say in such situations. I apologize."

He felt a pang of hurt for the Priestess` unforeseen confession and now he got a glimpse of that unparalleled honesty that was leaving Sasuke exposed and at loss of what weapons should he use to counter her innocence.

Naruto knew the torture infused by loneliness as good ad he felt it deeply into her words. He had been there before, all on his own and estranged by the others and it was a feeling that was still occasionally haunting his dreams.

"You are cute." His grinning mouth mumbled before he had the chance to ponder about what was he about to say.

"And so caring. Bastard is such a lucky guy. Not just anyone will be able to make this idiot open up so much hehe. Trust me it took me some really good smacks to knock some sense into his thick skull. He can be so stupid sometimes ya know?"

Naruto broke into a contagious laughter and Sakura couldn't help but fall into melodious giggles upon realizing that this funny looking man was wiser than he was being given credit for and not to mention that talking to Naruto was way easier than conversing with Sasuke.

"Tsunade _shishou_ who taught me everything I know used to say that men are oblivious and dumb until they find someone to care for, then they become voluntarily dumb and then they grow the best version of their dumbest self."

He would have never guessed that she would open up so much to someone like him but then again she was unpredictable as an unforeseen avalanche.

"A smart sensei that is. Wait," It was Sakura the one to laugh at Naruto for his versatility; changing figures from downright serious and wise to overly goofy and comic was indeed a rare feat. "does this include _me_ as well? Cos I sure as hell am not as dumb as Teme and the other fools."

She couldn't help but laugh openly at his blunt confession because now that she thought about it, Sakura could find some parallels between Naruto and her, at least in term of saying whatever crossed their minds without trying to wrap their words into a convenient veneering and deceive; and the blonde was so forward in everything he said and didn't bother to hide it, not even from her who was a protagonist in a very preposterous love triangle. "I don't know because she never mentioned."

Feeling her nostrils tickle her, Sakura turned around and sneezed while her hair spilled on her fact ad she rubbed her arms and her left leg of her right calf feeling extremely cold and it was only then when she realized that she was quite indecent dressed while presenting herself in front of a horde of full blooded males.

She missed Sasuke`s warmth though… his presence has been so pampering, but the way he acted around her made her heart flutter like a bumble bee and warm her insides.

"Ne," Naruto closed in to the Priestess while she found a clean glass to fill with water, whispering like the fate of the world was lingering in that secret and she mirrored his movement, unaware of how ridiculously funny they looked together; and plus, Sakura never felt inhibited or uncomfortable to shift closer to Naruto because of the fact that not even a single trace of a romantic feeling traipsed through her, only a pleasant warmth of friendship that could become something akin to a sister and brother close relationship.

"is it true that you and the Bastard did… ya` know... Kiss?" He even pursed his lips to enunciate that word and if she wasn't being so flushed by that comment, Sakura would have laugh out loud at how funny this solar blonde acted.

Her cheeks burned in a rutilant shade as she thought about how embarrassing was to be asked about something so… intimate but oh well, it wasn't like Sakura had any concept about preserving those type of talks solely between girls, because never in her life has she been kissed by a man and nor did she have friends.

* * *

"Ahm... Well w-we indeed –ehm–" Before she had the chance to stammer more like the Hyuga heiress herself, a sudden outburst of a strong spray hit their faces and chests as both Sakura and Naruto stumbled backwards with their hands acting as a shield between them and the pressure jet of water, screaming. "ah!"

Somehow, between those episodes of being abashed by Naruto`s uncomfortable questions and trying her best to regulate the pressure into the pipes, Sakura managed to break the faucet and have the powerful spritz of water hit them like an inanimate Suiton Style User, straight in their figures.

And of course that something even worse has happened, because the gush of liquid sprung everywhere around them and landed some droplets on a nearby electrical outlet with a malfunction causing it to short-circuit the main circuit breaker, resulting in throwing the entire house into a blackout.

"Oh shit!" Naruto jumped out in surprise when his first impulse was to inquire whether he went blind and involuntarily he shuffled closer to the Priestess who was looking in horror at the main source of their problem, seemingly not fazed by the darkness around. "What the heck happened?!" There was an obvious tinge of fright in his voice and a clattering of his teeth as Naruto was scared to death by ghosts and that started to resemble a horror movie.

Electricity was leaking around the electrical outlet like fireworks during a Festival. "I suppose that something like this is not normal…"

Sakura half noticed and half inquired and since she obviously didn't have electricity in the mountains she had no concept over those modern appliances and their malfunction, but that didn't look too promising.

Again she managed to break something around Sasuke and just imagining his reaction after he realized that she was indeed living up to the name he has associated her to –a troublemaker, was scarier than the idea of being electrocuted.

And water was still spraying all around, wetting their legs and turning Sasuke`s kitchen into a replica of the koi fishes pound from the garden, making the floor slippery.

The union and synergy with the spirit was sublime in her shrine so she didn't need to submerge into those materialistic conveniences to survive, but now that she has come down from the seclusion of her home and traipsed into another one`s home, Sakura felt like an intruding alien.

It was a sudden impulse that the Priestess had to wrap her hands around Naruto`s arm when he scooped closer to her, looking like two brothers trapped in a house haunted by evil spirits, throwing weary glances around and backing up from the water which created a mess from the neatly organized kitchen.

"It looks like the water has caused a short-circuit and thus we have a power failure. Guess it happens when you move into a house that has been abandoned for more than a decade, `ttebayou."

Slender eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. "A what? And why is electricity leaking from the walls?" She whispered to the blonde finding it fascinating how it resembled one of Sasuke`s signature techniques.

"That's because–"

* * *

A menacing low inflection sent cold shivers discharging along their spines and both Sakura and Naruto whirled on their heels to face the owner of that voice, gulping once upon seeing _that_ look in his eyes."–what the fuck are you two _morons_ doing here?"

Sasuke maneuvered his form in the shadow with the easiness of the King of shadows rippling along the kitchen with an unfazed bristle hissing through his teeth, sending all sorts of indecent curses while addressing Sakura and Naruto who looked like part of a Circus pair of runaways clowns, both now wincing away from the enraged Uchiha.

He was pissed off and not trying to conceal it. Probably everything up until now has been too much for his bucket to carry.

Seeing his dark aura overflowing with such plethoric ireful feelings was making any sane person shiver and adding it to the fact that only his pale face was glowing into that pitch black darkness with the only source of light being the shining ring of the moon peeping timidly through the window, enhanced that spooky atmosphere.

Not even trying to fight back the impulse to act as a _hero,_ Naruto jumped in to cover up for the girl`s clumsy mistake. "The faucet that you so conveniently didn't want to get it fixed yesterday seems to be broke–"

"–it is my fault for not knowing how to turn the –ahm–," light soprano inflection struggled for the proper word remembering how Naruto has called the weird object. "–faucet on and I ended up spraying water everywhere including that… weird _object_ which seems to have a copy of your Jutsu ebbed into it."

Sakura immediately reacted and intervened before someone else took the blame for her. She was not the one to run from responsibilities, no way and she was definitely not a damsel in distress or a weak woman.

Not at all.

The look she got from Sasuke was so malice that his narrowed orbs blended into the darkness making him look like he didn't have irises at all, only two holes carved into his face.

What was the most impressive during that tensed moment was that both Sakura and Naruto didn't even flinch at his attitude like they were not afraid of him and they were clearly not. And maybe that was the thing that caused him so much umbrage.

"You are impossible." And by that acid remark that he absolutely hissed through clenched teeth, everyone knew that he was commenting about Sakura.

Casually he stepped straight into the puddle of water spraying from the broken faucet and turned it off miraculously managing to close it, stopping the jet of water resembling a fountain to flood his kitchen.

His voice sounded strangled like he wanted to stab the Priestess with something sharp but held himself in check not to hurt her.

"I am sorry…" Sakura brushed a lock of hair around her ear, nipping on her lower lip like a small child scolded by an adult staring at him with an apparent submissive apprehension but they both knew better that albeit she was genuinely sorry for her ungainliness, she was definitely no _afraid_ of him and definitely not obsessing over him.

Naruto looked at the woman with three giant question marks virtually poking on his head, not processing the relationship between those two people, like they were so different and outré that he couldn't place them into any category, it being hard to digest that they were quite tangled in some sort of distorted relationship or simply being themselves and thus always falling into a clash.

It was something out of that world the way Sasuke seemed to be provoked by Sakura`s kinesics but at the same time he fought with himself for control like not wanting to hurt her, when in reality he was the one to kindle at the very idea of breaking her wings and bend her to his command.

That definitely didn't happen because the Priestess of Tea was definitely a free bird which was not caged by anyone.

This is the type of woman to sneak under Sasuke`s skin, huh? Naruto vaguely wondered. No wonder that he probably found her intriguing to say at least; she was a walking contradiction, a mirage, a tumult of convoluted opposing concepts, being so much of everything and yet never enough.

The Priestess was someone to always let the others covet for _more,_ be it related to her sacrosanct avatar or her as the young _woman_ with maladroit gestures.

Keeping that bloodcurdling silence which slayed along their spine, Sasuke took a glass from the counter and filled it with cold water and without sparing them a single glance, he passed them both as he padded back into the living room where Karin was coming up into her senses.

Suigetsu and Kiba were half questioning her wondering if she was all right and half gossiping like two teens about the new hot girl in town.

Actually their kinesics were pretty funny to see as well, because Suigetsu was fanning the woman`s face with an improvised fan made from a bag of chips that they have just finished as Sasuke was busy scolding Naruto and Sakura, while she looked as disoriented as a time traveller finding herself propelled one hundred years into the future, looking around dazed and holding on her forehead.

Kiba whispered to Suigetsu while they were both looking at Karin with the same intensity as one would have when staring to a bizarre creature landing on the earth. "Aw man, this is like a drama. Do you think she died? "

Karin, who was quick to recover has fluttered her unique Pinot Noir orbs open, finding two idiots beside her and looking like grieving at her gravestone. She slapped Kiba across the nape surprisingly hard giving her condition and hissed in her husky inflection at the beastly looking male who was rubbing his messy hair scowling at her. "I'm not dead you idiot! Why are you stupid or something?"

Just when Kiba wanted to protest at her excessive behavior with a cackling Suigetsu who was making fun of their antics, the living room has been thrown into a blackout taking all the three of them by surprise.

"What the fuck?!" No one actually knew were that sound was coming from because the three of them have screamed in unison and something akin to that retort has echoed from the kitchen as well.

She didn't see where Sasuke was because he stood at the end of the bed and thus his form was being concealed by Kiba and Suigetsu but an exasperated sigh and a swift shift on the sofa as he got up were definitely signs as him heading to the source of the problem.

"Guys, why is it so dark in here? Is Sasuke saving electricity?" Kiba casually threw his ass on the couch as Karin quickly composed herself and stood on the end of it rather awkwardly like not deciding whether she felt stupid, hurt or annoyed to no end, rattling. "I thought the fucker was loaded or all the shit about his Uchiha inheritance was only him bluffing?"

Actually that was the source of his seemingly endless income and albeit Sasuke was hardly the type of man to spend money uselessly being rather simple and unsophisticated when it came to daily necessities, he was the one to pump money into their organization because they didn't retort to robberies unlike all the false rumors spreading about them.

They only emptied the accounts of the corrupt moguls like Gatou from the Land of Waves and they were the ones to actually turn them into lowlife thieves to add to their reputation as criminals but still Sasuke never asked for his portion when they shared the money between them; not even once.

Of course that even Naruto wondered how did Sasuke got in the possession of all those money considering the fact that it has been such a long time since the Uchiha massacre happened and he doubted it that Sasuke politely asked the Leaf to kindly get his fucking money back and stop nourishing from his family`s treasures or that he went to a bank that the Uchiha used, but their last heir had no problems in disclosing that little secret to his friends.

* * *

It looked like one very questionable looking character named Nekobaa brcause of her seemingly obsession with hordes of cats residing in her home, used to be Uchiha`s main weapons supplier and also took care of their finances after they went extinct and she was fast enough to secure them Kami only knows where even before Danzo had the chance to get his paws on them like he first intended –Sasuke surprisingly got that information out of that man before he died, the bastard.

So Sasuke simply paid the woman a visit and got all his money back from her as it was the most normal thing to do. Something similar has Naruto done when getting into the possession of his father and mother`s treasures as part of his inheritance following Sasuke`s example.

So funny enough, _both_ of them were kinda loaded but still lived like nomads and never exuded opulence, because their moral values and ideologies went way beyond those materialistic cravings.

"Nah, you can never know with a guy like him," Suigetsu commented from one of the armchairs as he got comfortable enough to spread his long legs on the coffee table, nearly brushing Karin`s bare knees in the process as she kept a decent stance with her legs glued together and glaring daggers at the two of them for badmouthing Sasuke.

"but it looks like the power went out." A wicked perverted gleam made his grape light orbs shine maliciously into the darkness as he rambled. "This ain't a problem though. Very interesting _things_ can happen in the dark."

It didn't take much imagination to envision what exactly he meant by that comment and when a snicker erupted from Kiba who was exuding equally obscene tendencies and penchant for perverseness, Karin simply rolled her wine orbs at their lecherous demeanor, spitting to the Suiton user. "You're such a creep."

"Heh, like you are the one to talk, you denture maker obsessed stalking fangirl."

"You asshole, I am going to punch–"

* * *

Just like she was about to storm to Suigetsu who was tittering like a mischievous elf to her, Sasuke traipsed into the living room holding a glass of water into his hand and silently handed it to Karin who kept on staring curiously at him.

She averted her eyes refusing to look at him and took it wordlessly while Kiba and Suigetsu followed their interaction closely sensing the electrically charged thick atmosphere in the room escalading to tremendous insupportable levels, signalizing a lot of sexual frustration infused with a peculiar Uchiha _too-good-for-you-fuck-off_ vibe lingering all around and it was priceless.

It was so silent in the living room that when Karin placed the glass almost shaking back onto the glass coffee table, it sounded like she actually slammed it in suppressed frustration.

Sakura and Naruto joined the others into the kitchen with two giant red candles into their hands looking like entrapped into some sort of bizarre ritual.

Actually, the Priestess seemed to be entrapped by the flickering of the warm light of the candle it probably reminding her of her praying time into the Shrine, smiling largely down at her, while holding it like a mesmerized child during the Christmas Eve.

Seeing that the fainting woman was looking better now, Sakura skimmed to her and sitting on the sofa beside Karin, she placed the candle on the coffee table and another hand on her shoulder, displaying an abnormal merriment in her angelic tone, in pure contrast to the grim atmosphere into the room; all of the men said nothing only following her moves intently like being trapped into Sakura` charms. "Are you feeling better? I am very sorry for my earlier–"

Karin instantly reacted in a very anticipated way by harshly slapping her hand away off her body like Sakura`s touch burned her and spoke low and colder than any time before and not necessarily because she hated the insufferable Priestess having something personal with her, but because she hated the relationship between her and Sasuke.

She hated Sakura who was having a _purpose_ in Uchiha life. "–don't touch me damn it, I don't need your pathetic worry." Then she pinned her with another glare letting her legs dangle from the couch standing up and flatted her clothes fixing her attire to look more decent and less messier, pushing her glasses back on the bridge of her nose.

A hand run through her hair like she was nonchalant but her voice was soaked in bitterness and jealousy was percussion inside her chest. "and stop playing the saint here. You ain't fooling anyone."

In fact, deep inside her chest, Karin, just like most of the other women who got a taste and a glimipse of her peculiar conniption, she loathed Sakura for her unparalleled ability to preserved the ineffable, the purity and the intangibility because she was not corrupted. This angel was not fallen from Paradise and she was casually adressing them who were sinking in the misery in decadence.

Sakura nipped on her lower lip looking at her dark silhouette through the maze of impenetrable darkness curious and hurt at her rejection. She couldn't get to this woman and soothe her and she felt like her purpose was not fulfilled. A failure.

She didn't say anything either and another very thick quietude fallen the room. One so stifling that smothered their lungs cutting the air supply.

Even Kiba and Suigetsu, who were usually goofing around and weren't bothered by the atmosphere in general being superficial and playful for most of the time, felt a lump down their throat.

Karin was exaggerating and it was so unlike her to act so cold toward a someone and for the first time in forever she seemed to be genuinely oppressive with someone who might pose as competition, and even if he was hardly the one to ever get involved into such brouhaha between women, he kind of felt sorry for the Priestess.

She was nothing but a sweetheart to everyone; yeah, she was the biggest fool and the most naïve woman around the Five Nations, but it was kinda impossible to hate on her.

In fact, it was just legit that women wouldn't like her because she entombed what most of the males were fantasizing about –a cherub with the heart of gold, pure and genuine and entombed into the Goddess body of a sylph.

He kind of agreed with Sasuke and understood his attraction for her; who wouldn't be lured by such a woman when the idea of corrupting and breaking her was an instantaneous turn on? Karin`s rabid jealousy was legit.

It was not like it hurt her to be rejected by the others after all, she has always been thought that not all the people will accept a Deity figure in their lives to represent the solstice of all the things, but in return, Kami-sama will never abandon the people even though they still refused His kindness, and the ones who were there to spread His Word of Wisdom must never judge nor be less than forgiving and understanding with the others and that was the reason why Sakura didn't resent Karin for her attitude; not at all.

She felt sorry for the woman because there was so much sadness accumulated into those beautiful wine grapes orbs, one that she wanted to let go but couldn't and this was the reason why Sakura has tried to show support; as a Priestess, she was always perceptive about the others` emotions, just like she has been able to reach to Sasuke.

Big emerald orbs opened wide like Gates of Paradise and luminous as million stars above were looking at Karin who was rambling something under her breath, eschewing her gaze from everyone like she was unsure about staying in Sasuke`s home where she was clearly not welcomed or dash off and pick what has been left from her pride and walk off like a real woman–

"–I think it is better for me to leave you with your own business." Nonetheless, she couldn't help but flicker her orbs to Sakura who stood up seemingly apologetic and not in the bit offended or affected by all the acrimony and hatred around and offered a small smile to the ones who were looking at her in confusion, understanding that she was just a stranger in their midst and albeit she had no idea of where to go, she felt like she was transgressing those people`s privacy. "Excuse me–"

* * *

A firm hand wrapped around her wrist pulled her back onto the sofa, this time it being Sakura`s turn to let her orbs shimmer in surprise. "–what are you saying?"

Who could have known better about how was it like to be an outcast beside Uzumaki Naruto himself, who has been viewed by his own Village as a dangerous weapon whose existence was a threat to everyone and alienated?

That was pure instinct making him react without even thinking when his perceptive nature understood how that girl was feeling and although he started to get the gist of what was the representation of a Priestess to her and her all forgiving nature, he knew that deep down Sakura felt hurt as a lonely human and not someone to be worshipped.

"No one here is an _intruder_ ," something flinched inside her chest when Naruto boldly enunciated that word. "so why would you leave?"

Then out of nowhere, a huge grin which illuminated the entire dark living room like he was a solar demi-God himself while he spoke in his usual energetic way. "We`ve got enough food and drinks for everyone so no one will be left _out_ or antagonized, _believe it!_ "

If she would have had a brother, then this Uzumaki Naruto would be the avatar of it, Sakura vaguely noticed while looking at his smile.

There was something about this man that made him so unpredictable but at the same time so kind hearted, so gentle and so dependable and she understood now his role into Sasuke`s organization; a balance.

It was an immeasurable pool of light into this man that was enough to balance all the darkness wrapped around their group; he alone was capable of shouldering all that _hatred_ and all the acrimony.

"Catch this!"

"Oh?" A big bag of potato chips landed on her lap being tossed at her from Suigetsu who was already having his unoccupied hand half shoved down the almost empty one, smirking at her.

"I don't know what kind of food Hermits prefer, but I bet ya` that you have never eaten something better than this shit."

Glimmering once to the aquamarine eyed male then at the bag in her hands, Sakura opened it up pulling on the ends and everyone seemed to be waiting for her to open up that bag of chips like it was the most thrilling closure to a good action movie.

A heavy potatoes and sweet tomato sauce hit her nostrils hard, but she dared to finger the bag and cup one triangular chips, wiggling her nose comically to sniff on it and feel the flavor clearly not being used to such type of unhealthy food, then placed it upon her lips letting it sink into her mouth and munching on it.

The sound of cracking chips was bizarre and she almost felt embarrassed by creating rude noises while eating, not being familiar with how friends or comrades spent their leisure time in each other`s company, blushing lightly.

"This is good!" She smiled widely to Suigetsu who couldn't help but laugh at her and it was one of those rare moments when he was genuinely amused by someone.

"Told ya`!"

"Here, let`s share!" Naruto took a fist full of golden looking food and he didn't do it because they didn't have more bags to suffice for each one of them, but because he was reminded by those couple iced desserts that people shared with their dear ones and trying to evoke the same feeling of having someone to be there for you and share the loneliness with the Priestess.

She giggled to him comically, laughing lightly in a way so musical that made it impossible for someone not to mirror her. Kiba who was the closest to Karin leaned to whisper to her mockingly. "Oi, don`t be so gloomy babe, it makes you less attractive."

"Shut up you nitwit!" She gnarled right back at him like a furious lioness, grasping the beer from his hand that he was about to press upon his lips, taking a generous gulp of the bitter beverage like she wanted to drown all her misery into alcohol. Why was she even trying, Karin vaguely wondered.

She won`t leave this place just because some Priestess of Tea who seemed to be an alien landing to Earth and having zero knowledge about anything, looking clumsy and lost in the middle of so many foreign things.

Heh, like someone so meticulous and cultivated with a perfect sense of details and aesthetics as Uchiha Sasuke will ever fall for someone so… she didn't even have a name to call that Priestess.

Sakura was something bizarre beyond words; someone that they haven't seen before.

"That was mine ya` know?"

"Yeah so what? Didn't you say that there is enough food for everyone? Go and get yourself another one and stop bitching around."

She threw a quick peep at Sakura who was engaged into a mindless conversation with Naruto –most likely about something stupid and useless she suspected, mumbling. "We had enough of that lately…"

Kiba simply shrugged, then got up, approaching Suigetsu and casually snatched his own beer getting a kick into his butt with the side of his shoe for the guts to do something so unmanly, cackling at his course of indecent insults and joining Karin on the sofa, coming to stand between her and the Priestess.

* * *

Sasuke on the other hand stood absolutely motionless on the other side of the sofa like lurking from the shadows being the only one who was not reacting and still standing; thinking.

When the rage induced by her mistake washed off his system, understanding that she didn't do it on purpose, he couldn't help but inquire about that charm in her amateurishness albeit she was a skilled wise kunoichi. Was it only a sophistic mask the one she was displaying or the genuine her?

But more importantly why couldn't he peel his goddamn orbs off her person and felt that strong desire to slay his Chidori sword straight between her and the dobe?

That was not _jealously,_ of course not. How could something so imbecile even strike his mind even for a nanosecond? Of course that he wasn't envious of other men approaching the Priestess who was also _his_ prisoner because he didn't have a reason to feel something so unproductive and what a joke –like he will ever _feel_ something for this woman or any other for the matter.

Then why was he still looking at her the way he did, motionless, arms crossed upon his chest and not even blinking or breathing, simply taking her in from head to toe and observing her interactions with the Kyuubi`s best pal; what was different in the way she behaved with Naruto and how she reacted to him?

Putting aside the fact that she was savoring that horrible snack which was an insult to the real cooked meal like it was a taste of Ambrosia, she was laughing and conversing more, her emerald orbs were shining even brighter than normal, she was more natural and more into her element while they seemed to enact the perfect brotherly and sisterly bond, somehow reminding him of he and Itachi when they were kids.

And then it hit Sasuke like a tornado. Sakura was happier, more comfortable with the dobe, she was not that stuttering clumsy idiot who seemed so lost in her own bubble without finding her words or blushing like she was shy and introvert like… not wanting to _embarrass_ herself.

With Naruto and even when Kiba or Suigetsu addressed a random gibberish to her, the Priestess seemed not affected by the fact that she might be embarrassing herself; she was not afraid to mirror Naruto`s idiotic attempts to be funny and use to chips to mimic the teeth of a vampire with two sharper chips, grinning and then laughing at one another… things she did not do in _his_ presence.

When in Sasuke`s proximity, Sakura tried to be _perfection_ for a reason that he couldn't comprehend, but the analogy was evident.

When they were alone, she was more laid back and censored with her manners, she refrained from being excessively buoyant or express merriment, being elegant, graceful and more mature than usual, despite the fact that some of her shenanigans were slipping past her awareness.

And that led him to the previous logical question: why? Why would she act so reticent in his presence? Because she was afraid of him?

That was definitely not the case here and as much as he loathed her for her unfazed attitude, he couldn't deny the fact that Sakura wasn't startled by him. Was it out of politeness?

Respect? Was she acting this way because he was treating her with coldness? No, the Priestess was having a defined personality and she won`t change for anyone.

The answer was there, dropkicking frenetically into the doors of his brain but Sasuke refused to welcome them because he knew what they were.

Different type of _feelings._ This was a woman who was trained into being sensitive and perceptive to the others` feelings and thus she had a vast repertoire of sentiments manifesting when she came in contact with various people.

Maybe a part of him _wanted_ her to be more open in his presence and… he had absolutely no idea of why in the world was he even thinking about that.

God, how sweet would it be for all of the people who were currently populating the space of his home to disappear from there and leave him alone?

* * *

Sensing someone`s intense orbs set on her like pleading, begging and burning to be acknowledged, Sakura gazed at the source of those charcoals and of course they landed on Sasuke`s form who was barely visible from how he stood camouflaged into the shadows, staring at _her._

The reaction was immediate. She placed the chips slowly into her mouth, smile frozen on her face and dying down as well as her jolly atmosphere, then she cheeks got the familiar tinge of a rubicund virgin shade blushing and totally unaware of the innuendo in her gesture, she licked the two fingers she used to eat her chips.

Her rosy tongue wrapped around her digits rolling up and sliding over her lips as she pursed them and nipped on them, repeating that lackadaisically motion until she suckled them clean.

All the while watching him, holding his gaze with so much innocence in her gestures that it was impossible to comprehend how could she still look like that while doing something remotely sexual?

He hated her; oh fuck he _loathed_ the Priestess for toying with his fucking mind. She was playing with him, torturing him and haunting him.

This was not a sacrosanct picture of something holly, this woman was the finest demon that he has ever seen and not to mention the most versatile actress.

Images of that tongue of hers being wrapped along his _body_ and licking him with so much pleasure injected his mind with a dosage of madness, one that he never felt before, leaving him suddenly hot and vexed.

Which signalized the time to get his ass off that place and find himself a beer. Yup, getting drunk was the most logical thing that he could do in that moment because he didn't know how to react to her, or how to fight back those things she did to him.

How can he fight against _those_ eyes which were spilling so many feelings to him that it became unbearable to stand there watching her?

She nearly choked on her chips by the way Uchiha Sasuke was looking at her like trying to penetrate into her soul and tear it from her carcass.

His smoldering inky orbs were drowning, plaguing and so intense like searching for something that was troubling him; an emotion without a name or a concept latched to it, but he was still blindly chasing it.

The reaction she got from her thumping heartbeats was immediate and instantaneous, just like a lightning bolt lacerating the sky in half and hitting a trunk, pulverizing it.

Shivers were rolling along her spine while she fought between two whispers inside her mind – one was urging her to break that impossible irresistible stare and the other never wanting to look away from him.

Sasuke embodied the apogee of a guilty pleasure; Sakura found herself being scared to hold his gaze knowing how potent it was but at the same time she couldn't help but get submersed into their beauty; he was like velvet chocolate for her system.

It was him the one who broke the eye contact and shifted his position in the room, traversing the sofa and heading to the shopping bag which Suigetsu placed beside the coffee table, quickly finding himself the object of his desire in the form of a bottle of sake. Fuck the beers, those were like water for his high alcohol tolerance. He and the dobe were sake addicts.

Shockingly the laconic Uchiha came to sit beside his azurite eyed friend who was also having one white bottle of the said beverage, exposing it to Sakura what his plans to bring up universal peace were, but the fact that he was mostly incoherent because he was tipsy resulted in a masshup of powerful ideologies and a lot of indescribable naiveties.

Those people were really getting along with each other because they were equally stupid and idealistic; too idealistic for the level of hatred consuming that world.

And apparently the Priestess was nodding energetically at everything that came out of Naruto`s mouth like finding it plausible; probably using her acumen, she could relate to some of the symbolism in his words, but God… those people must never plot world domination together.

Deciding that looking too much into matters –especially ones that were not related to his ambitions was nerve damaging, Sasuke propelled his nape against the headrest, flickered his thumb against the cap of the bottle easily making it fly on the other side of the coffee table, kicked Suigetsu`s legs away off his piece of furniture, crisscrossing his own legs on it and took a generous gulp of the beverage, focusing on anything else but Sakura`s voice and melodious giggles which brushed his eardrums.

He either got himself dead drunk or go insane; those were his options for the night.

* * *

One hour later, a random living room in a previously abandoned home located into a ghostly deserted former Uchiha District was dotted with bodies of scattered people who were talking gibberish and slurring, all being dead _drunk._

Literarily.

That was the anticipated result when every single one of them got their hands of some liquor and albeit their reasons for drinking were antagonistically, the result was till the same; a bunch of shitfaced people.

Karin for instance simply couldn't stand the overflowing sexual tension between the Priestess and Sasuke and albeit they were trying to ignore it like they were simply oblivious to it she as a sensor ninja who was receptive to human emotions as she depicted the fluctuations in their chakra system and heart rates, found it too much how they were basically coveted for each other, but she refused to simply walk away and surrender.

So what if Sasuke didn't want her? Deep down her mind, Karin was anything but a delusional woman and definitely not a brainless fangirl to add to his overdose plethora of ogling and drooling fans, no.

She was a down to earth independent woman whose mental sanity was quite unstable but given the fact that she has suffered a lot in her early days as a kid, no one could blame her because unlike the rest, she had a pretty sturdy self-control.

She knew that the Uchiha never displayed any romantic behavior towards her, so he played fair; he didn't give her false hopes and nor did he do anything to fuel her hopes and fantasies. He made it clear from the very beginning that she was a valuable comrade, but nothing going on beyond that.

But God… she simply couldn't stand the idea that actually there _was_ someone who could get Uchiha Sasuke and seeing it happen was hurting her more than she wanted to admit.

The image of an untouchable Sasuke who no woman will get was as tempting as the ideal in beauty or reaching a star was –she didn't suffer because it wasn't hers.

But seeing it that he too had _human_ emotions and might actually end up loving someone has hit her hard like a boulder crushing her heart.

And that was the reason why she didn't want to leave; she didn't want to end up drown in her own illusory dream that has crumbled.

Running away from what she most feared has never helped her in the past and nor will it now. A real woman accepts defeat with her head held high and moves over with tact and dignity.

Well, Karin kind of had three bottles of beer and half of the sake one which she was sharing with Suigetsu –who miraculously ended up squashing her between the armrest and his body, pushing Kiba aside to lie awkwardly on the floor, with his back prompted against the coffee table and talking to Akamaru who has kept silent up until now, sleeping soundly under the table, relating something indecipherable to him about he absolutely slayed some Kumo shinobi, most likely exaggerating like always.

The poor dog looked like ready to commit suicide of all the nonsenses coming out of his master`s mouth but he had to listen because they were forever best pals.

Suigetsu`s head was lolling comically over Karin`s shoulder and but the red haired Uzumaki beauty was too damn drunk and completely not in control over her clumsy moves to shove him off her person, both feeding from a huge rice ball and sharing a half empty bottle of sake.

In all honesty, his presence was somehow smoothening and made up from the lack of affection in her life and now that all the modesty has slipped from her drunken brain, she felt lonelier and emptier than ever.

So she didn't punch the living daylights out of Suigetsu for getting so comfortable around her to even turn her shoulder into a comfy pillow, breathing things into her ear that wouldn't reach to her but at the same time she didn't want him to stop talking to her. What he was trying to say while his voice slurred in all his intoxicated glory was not important.

What was happening past Suigetsu as three more people were occupying that sofa, Karin really didn't want to know but the hushed muffled sounds were only giving her enough reason to hate on a certain rose haired Priestess.

That until Naruto broke the awkward silence blabbering but surprisingly he seemed tad more coherent than the rest, clearly having one hell of a alcohol tolerance; that or the Nine Tailed Fox inside him got rid of all the alcohol for himself.

"Guys, this is kind of scary and ghostly. What if this place is.. You know... Haunted? Like in the movies?" Leave it to the number one knucklehead to have the guts to say something like this in the presence of the last Uchiha who was staying right beside him.

The reason why it took Sasuke so much time to respond to the imbecile affirmation remained a mystery.

Or it might have been because somehow, when he wasn't paying attention because he was too busy drowning his liver in the fifth bottle of sake which literarily burned his skull and throat and every cell in his body, Sakura ended up staying beside him and in no better predicament.

Because for the first time in her life, an obnoxious idiot convinced her to commit another sin –one that was ironically enough making Tsunade the former Priestess smear with the same vice addiction, namely drink alcohol.

Of course that she politely refused at first, but no one will escape Naruto`s power of persuasion and after her second bottle of sake which she seemed to both loathe and enjoy, she nearly fell dead drunk with her head on _his_ chest, pretty much mirroring the other bizarre couple of drunkards from the other side of the sofa, while Naruto was dangling off the sofa with his feet thrown against the headrest, and his head lolling upside down, looking like he was leaking from it.

How they all ended up like that, no one knew for sure but no one seemed to care either.

Miraculously Sasuke was hella drunk himself because he intentionally drunk more than his tolerance, but amazingly he was not slurring. His ego was probably working overtime for him. "Are you possibly insulting my home by implying that the spirits of my clan are wandering around?"

Hurt was subtle in his voice and now that he wasn't in full control over his senses, it became more evident as his standoffish demeanor melted into a more extrovert approach.

And it was of course Sakura the one who detected it albeit funny things were churning inside her skull which felt like someone was jackhammering her brain and cracked her head open in half.

Her vision was blurred and her body narcotized but a very pleasant quiescence and a warm feeling was pooling in her belly so she was smiling like an idiot while nuzzling her head against Sasuke's chest.

He on the other hand was too damn drunk to be bothered by her and besides, that feeling in conjunction with the alcohol induced self-allowed him to stop wading into those oceans of unexplored feelings and simply enjoyed the natural feeling he got on having her so close to him.

An almost incoherent mumble came in response, probably from Suigetsu. "Thishhh… has that that creepy Halloween… feeling to it. Nice."

Another short moment of silence came during which hands tried to maneuver the beers to the expecting lips. Naruto fetched an eyebrow up thinking about nothing in particular, except for a pair of the most pearly orbs that he has ever seen, but he was too inebriated to remember who they belonged to. "What's that dude? "

"Shhhhome traditional holiday that people in Shhh–Sound had for celebrating their spirits. I dunno where that came from but they were parading around at midnight along the streets like brainwashed zombies, dressed accordingly and carving pumpkins to use them like lanterns. "

"Man that`s sick." Kiba always had an aversion for the Sound Village and everything that had the smallest connection to that snake freak leader from the shadows. "Well what would you expect from a village run by that sick psycho pedophile Orochimaru?"

"That was one of the weirdest creatures that I have ever seen in my life, believe it! Good thing that Sasuke Teme killed that monster."

Onyx orbs lazily travelled to the source of that perturbing noises, wondering why the heck wasn't silence in his home so that he could sleep, realizing that he couldn't see a thing because of the darkness in the room.

The candles have melted and now they were basking in a nebulous atmosphere and hadn't it been for their constant chattering, he would have definitely fell asleep on his comfy sofa.

But the main reason for why he even bothered to crock an eyebrow up was not Naruto`s remark because killing one of the Sannin was as entertaining as it was troublesome, but because a pair of _lips_ were latched to _his_ chin.

Moist wet feminine lips and they were nipping his skin. _What the heck?_ Peeping to his right side, Fugaku`s youngest son stumbled across of a dead drunk Priestess who was having a haphazardly hand curled around his torso and cuddling into his chest, while kissing his jaw and chin and breathing something intelligible against his sweet skin.

He didn't have the physical strength and energy to shove her off nor to snarl at her for how she was reacting, but then again what would he expect from someone who hasn't have a single drop of liquor in her entire life and decided to drink an entire bottle of sake by herself?

At least she wasn't violent or obnoxious, albeit how she behaved was worse for the Uchiha whose hormones were the only bits in his body that were working in overdrive and alcohol played the perfect catalyst for his aroused state.

"Stop this." He growl to her trying his best to keep his voice moderated and not attract the attention of the other imbeciles and fuel their perverted assumptions about him. "You are too damn close."

Even if there was only a cold blurred light creeping through the windows coming from the moon, Sasuke could still see those emerald jewels shining splendidly as they tried to focus on his face through the thick layers of intoxication.

Her face was rubicund and flushed by alcohol, she lost the composed elegance in lieu to a comical childish pout and a nonchalant smiling face and she slurred back to him one word that he miraculously understood just because his onyx pools got immersed into her luscious lips.

"Coooold… I need... warmthhhh…" Of course she felt cold, because her fever was probably still haunting her and she was only clad in his cotton shirt with her long legs bare and folded under her on the sofa.

That might demolish his initial assumption that she was trying to cuddle with him and sexually harass him by having a hand around his chest, because she was pretty much looking for a source of _warmth_ –again.

But what has made her kiss his jaw and nip on his chin then? Seemingly to be capable of reading his mind, Sakura arched her neck and placed another chaste and delicate smooch against his pointed chin, mumbling between a lazy smile and a pout.

"Sweeet…" She was enjoying the _taste_ of his skin and even in her confused and drunken state, she would recognize this man and his miraculous charm.

It was way out of control how his body reacted next because predicting next her movement as she wanted to attach her lips to his skin again, Sasuke maneuvered his head tilting it on his side and made their lips latch against each other, brushing into a torpid kiss.

Sakura didn't seem to process what was happening because she continued to stroke his lips just like she did with his chin and how she brushed his own petals against his own felt really _good._

And since their heads were sunk into the sofa, it was quite easy for her to rest her chin upon his shoulder and kiss him with unhurried and disarray flickers of her lips against his.

That was very comfortable and in fact, Sasuke simply half lidded his onyx orbs letting her try to set a pace simply massaging his lips against her own while she was suckling on his lower one pulling on it.

Vaguely, he noticed that she was a better kisser when drunk than her normal clumsy and demure self, but then again, she was less laid back now and more like her inner curious and bold self.

He liked that, so he simply enjoyed their kiss, in fact, the Uchiha even went as far as to wrap his right hand around her back and bring her closer to him and she followed his lead obediently.

Sakura really had no control over her gestures and Sasuke was in too much emotional turbulence and had too less control over his senses to push her aside, so he simply reacted in his most primal way, led by the simplest covets of his body`s needs.

There was no tongue sneaking from their mouths in search for an exploration of their own; no, this time their kiss was something so simple, so ungraceful and yet so delicious, unhurried and lazy, allowing them enough space to breathe upon each other`s mouths and savor each other and had they been fully awake, that would probably considered romantic.

Head spinning, mind falling into a sweet dream being lulled by the inviting call of a deep slumber, her spirit felt dematerialized from her body, limbs were working on pure reflex, Sakura had no idea of what was happening around.

She was too drunk to even perceive that she was drunk; that was a Nirvana induced state and it felt amazing albeit her stomach was kind of upset from the unhealthy combination between fast food and alcohol and she felt cold.

She had no idea when has she gotten so drunk. Last thing that her mind could clearly evoke was the conversation she had with Naruto about his dream to become Hokage and unite all the shinobi by making them cooperate and it got pretty interesting before she has been offered a drink.

Now alcohol was also forbidden for a Priestess but one thing led to another and she found herself trapped into the middle of that mini celebration party of drunken idiots so she had a taste, thinking about Tsunade shishou and her addiction. So she deduced that it couldn't be so sinful if she got the taste and plus, it was impolite to refuse it.

Soon after the first drops of the burning beverage, she couldn't remember a thing and when her mind drifted into a sweet comatose state, her primal needs were the ones to manifest, such as the need to feel something warm and the closest thing to her which just happened to be Sasuke felt so inviting, so she naturally scurried closer to him when Naruto hasn't been in the way.

Melting her like a bonfire kindled into her tummy, she scurried closer to Sasuke who didn't push her away.

Then a burning taste in her mouth has left her pander into something sweet and accidentally she has been drown into the fine man beside her, lulled by his amazing natural smell and that delectable taste that his skin exuded so she simply acted out of reflex, brushing his lips over his skin.

In fact, she wasn't pretty much sure about what she was tasting but suddenly something wet which was his lips responding to her have slicked across her mouth like teasing her sensually and she happily tasted the inviting cup of peaches nectar.

His lips, albeit she wasn't hundred percent of what was moving so elegantly upon her own lips, cupping them in a touch gentler than the brush of a dragonfly landing on a lotus flower and making her soar, felt so warm, so good, so delicious and delectable and so inviting that her entire body got a sudden energy boost and millions bumble bees erupted in a jolly swarm fluttering inside her tummy and chest.

Sakura literarily sunk into Sasuke`s arms and leaned into the feeling and when his hand wrapped around her sylph frame bringing her flush into his arms, she melted against him like hot caramel.

That until she felt her body slowly fade into a deep slumber falling asleep with her lips trapped between his own and it was in the moment when she stopped savoring him has Sasuke realized that Sakura has fallen asleep.

But God damn it, he simply couldn't remove his lips from hers because the physical feelings were overflowing.

She was warm, her body into his arms belonged there so naturally and perfectly like the first dew drops sliding along the long blades of grass in a fresh summer morning, so natural and organic that he simply couldn't conjure his barriers and eschew from that feeling; she felt like someone who was destined to be _his_.

So they simply fell into the lull of slumber in each other`s arms and tapping each other's lips on the couch, while the others did just the same, falling prey to the oblivion of their alcohol induced state.

Kiba was long gone into the den of dreams, having his head prompted on Akamaru`s fluffy fur, lying sprawled on the carpet.

Naruto was using the empty bottle of sake as a pillow, drooling all over Sasuke`s floor cuddling into a ball under the coffee table, like a dog finding shelter during a rainstorm, dreaming about a certain gorgeous prisoner that he desired to visit and hold dearly into his arms, developing a new obsession beside Ramen.

Now Karin and Suigetsu were hardly people who sought for pampering or comfort, both being independent and straightforward conniptions that clashed irremediably everytime they got a get together, but now they were tangled in a messy position.

Somehow, Karin found it uncomfortable to keep on kicking Naruto`s butt with her legs dangling from the sofa, so she simply let them spread in Suigetsu`s lap while he has fallen completely listless into her full endowed chest, snorting and sleeping like a zombie in a comatose state into her arms while she has buried her face into his maze of bristle snowy hair and fell asleep while clearing her mind of everything that had to do with Sasuke and the Priestess and good thing that she couldn't see anything in that darkness anymore otherwise she would still be seething, even though there was a blackout and there was hardly a contour left that wasn't blurred for her drunken state but what the heck… Suigetsu was so warm and he didn't smell like a fish like she would have anticipated on the contrary he had a masculine marine spiciness which was demented and attractive and she indulged into it.

So they were a good parallel to the other twisted pair from the other side of the sofa, being trapped into an eternal romantic picture with an overdose of conundrums and convoluted feelings. Sometimes, being stupid was the smartest thing to do.

* * *

.

.

.

* * *

His hard steps were drumming against the spacious office while he was brooding and scowling, not removing his orbs from the floor. Pairs of confused orbs were trailing after his gloomy aura following how an invisible stormy cloud was floating above his persona.

"What are you brooding at out this time, Teme?" Naruto who was stuffing his face with a cup of instant Ramen, slurping from his noodles taunted with mild interest.

His hangover wasn't as bad as the others` because the Kyuubi`s chakra helped him get rid of the alcohol surging through his system faster and thus he has been left with only a starving stomach.

First hour in the morning, Sasuke has explicitly tossed everyone the heck out of his home and albeit they were hardly awake, Suigetsu, Karin, Naruto and Kiba found themselves caressed by the first rays of sun in the middle of the ghostly Uchiha District, starving and having one hell of a hangover.

But Sasuke didn't give a damn about any of that and he didn't even offered them something to quench their hungriness. It has been pretty bad for him to arouse form his slumber with the Priestess curled into a ball against his chest, basically sleeping into his arms like they were _husband_ and _wife_ and having her head buried under his chin while his hands were possessively encompassing her form, sleeping on the sofa and having a terrible neck pain because of that uncomfortable position.

Not to mention that Suigetsu was resting his legs on his as he was somehow lying against Karin who was the only one among them who seemed to have decency and not lie scattered all along his couch.

Kiba and Naruto looked dead as they passed out all over his carpet –his mother`s favorite linen carpet so it took a little bit more effort from his part to tuck on their clothes and drag their still comatose state forms out of his home and into the garden where they woke up with a start.

Then he headed straight to the Hokage Tower after taking the fastest shower in history, only letting cold water spill across his muscles and alleviate the tension and cool down his nerves. He found himself overwhelmed by so many occurrences and that as a start since Sasuke was a neat organized man who planed everything ahead with much delicacy.

It was Sakura`s fault. In such a terse amount of time, she managed to turn his world upside down and not necessarily because she was such a rabble-rouser and a troublemaker, but also because she was so very different from anything and anyone and so incredibly sneaky into getting under his skin, even when his ration wasn't welcoming her inside; she was working on his _heart._

She was constantly trying to plead with him to let her in until his walls would crumble and she did it all so gracefully and elegantly, without being lecherous and vulgar and that was why she was so dangerous.

Exquisiteness was way harder to fight against than inelegance.

"It is fruitless to share it with you since you will never understand." Meaning that Naruto always acted and never thinking about the consequences of his actions and besides… when did the Hokage`s office filled with Naruto and the other idiots again? Sasuke was positive that he got rid of them with the clear message that he had enough of their presences.

The village needed to be repaired, there were houses on the verge of collapsing, people to treat and not enough personnel in the hospital, so why were they here bothering him and not scattered into the Village to aid the civilains again? Those lazy ass morons…

Opening up his somnolent orbs, Shikamaru yawned with much pathos stretching his limbs above his head, speaking with half of his mouth opened and little to none enthusiasm, watching his friend digging a hole into the floor with his constant fidgeting, clearly understanding what was bothering their Leader and finding it pretty amusing that something so small and not in the bit dangerous like the Priestess of Tea was managing to make him so riled up. "Must be something _troublesome_ if it keeps you so fidgety so early in the morning. What are you think about?"

Like that wasn`t obvious...

"The Priestess of Tea." Naruto simply burst in an obstreperous laughter, gripping his tummy and spitting half of the soup from his mouth spraying it against Shikamaru who simply dodged it with a near scroll hoping that it was not something of vital importance.

While Shikamaru deadpanned at the blunt answer of his raven haired comrade, Naruto simply shrugged indifferently then broke into a malice grin, deciding to taunt Sasuke even more for his newfound weakness for a certain Goddess. "Naturally, who wouldn't considering how beautiful she is–"

"–not in the way you think, you knucklehead." The Uchiha simply injected through clenched teeth throwing Naruto a glance so fierce that almost had him chock on laughter at how villainous it was, only enhancing the fact that he was affected by Sakura`s presence and thus he had feelings for her, ones that Naruto already knew. "I cannot brush this feeling of. Why is she called the Priestess of Tea?"

"...because she lives in a place where tea grows?"

Sasuke refrained from throwing an indecent insult to the Kyuubi's vessel`s idiotic smartass retort. Of course that this was the apparent explanation to fool the idiots into thinking that there was all about prayers and hallowed figures, when in reality they probably hid something more important underneath, something that was kept as a secret from anyone else and probably passed through one secluded exclusivist group of Konoha`s highest ranked ninjas.

Maybe he should have used his Sharingan on those Elders and Genjutsu them into obtaining Intel from them but then again, the thirst for revenge has clouded his judgment and his penchant for seeing them soak in their own blood as a symbolic purification of his clan was too appealing to be wasted for information that he could figure it out by himself.

"By that logic of yours," Shikamaru started beating Naruto into saying something that would probably make Sasuke throw him outside through the window. "if the Leaf village would have grown potatoes then would she have been called the Priestess of _Potatoes_? Or... tomatoes?"

Naruto peeped at the Nara genius like he grew a pair of horns, taking some time to process the implication of that simple yet flawless ration, though he didn't quite catch what Shikamaru meant by that.

Sasuke on the other hand knew exactly what he said, but kept quiet and let it sink into his shrewd brain. "How should I know? No matter how you call that angel, it still sounds good. Why does it matter anyway?"

"Because a title is always associated to a specific _task_. A position, a duty or an emblem of something she must do. What is her role? What does _tea_ stands for? "

Because definitely cultivating tea in the Land of Fire was _not_ the main reason for her purpose on the contrary, evidence and experience led Sasuke to believe that the trading of tea in the Land of Fire was simply a good cover for the main purpose of the priestess as well as a secret code between the ones who had knowledge about her past, to recognize the person in charge.

"Something that she possibly guards? Maybe a secret treasure? "

"A treasure you say?" Naruto`s orbs popped out of their sockets as they twinkled like stars, blitzing Shikamaru a stare that had the genius fetch an eyebrow up. Definitely his assumption wasn't this bad, was it? "like a really rare tea assortment?"

"Remove this idiot from this office now. It blows away my inspiration."

"Oi, you lazy ass, I am trying to help ya` t`tebayou! Show some manners!"

"That or… something really powerful." Uchiha deduced by taking into account Shikamaru`s hunch. He knew that whatever was crossing his mind now might not necessarily hit the nail in the head, but it always led to the correct path so Sasuke knew better than to overlook Nara`s advices. "What if she guards something valuable for the village as in... Something which comprises an immense power?"

"Like what? A weapon? She is a Priestess Sasuke and not a guardian." At least that was according to the few data they collected about her from Orochimaru, but then again the serpent faced male couldn't even find the Priestess and let alone find out what she guarded.

"She is also a kunoichi and probably with a good reason." In Sasuke`s mind, there was no need to teach a Priestess ninjutsu in vain if not for making her versatile in fighting _other_ shinobi and following this premise it was easy to deduce that she wasn't expected to fight shinobi who might come to her to pray, but shinobi who might be looking for something _else_ that she might be in the possession of.

There was no need for a Priestess or a Priest to learn ninjutsu to defend himself from other shinobi, because they only attacked with a clear purpose and that was either assassination of important or influent people or they were in search for something rare and strong.

"Yeah, for self-defense. God only knows how many creeps like you tried to take advantage of someone who looks like that."

That would have been the best idea that Naruto has had so far, but the way his orbs were full of mocking and pointing at Sasuke and his behavior from the first encounter with the Priestess made the Uchiha bristle and snarl to him.

"I didn't take advantage of her you idiot. I was just trying to find an opening to cast the restraining Jutsu on her."

"Yeah right. Figures you would want _nothing_ to do with her, considering the fact that you stole her three kisses so far."

"I didn't steal anything and she _responded_ to every each of them. And this hardly can be called like forcing someone." Heck she _begged_ for it and even initiated those lip locks between them and… why in the world has the conversation deviated again from business to his private life?!

"Oh, so you _do_ admit that there is _something_ going on between you!" Naruto shot an accusing finger at the vexed Uchiha who looked like barely restraining himself not to strangle the blonde with his bare hands or burn him with the intensity of his charcoal orbs.

Shikamaru wisely stood out of that conversation. If there was something that he has learned about women so far was that when it came to relationships and romance, he should stay way as far as possible and never interfere and that logic definitely applied when his friends were involved.

Especially Sasuke.

"Not the point in here and there is nothing going on between me and that woman whose name I don't even know." Sasuke let that piece of information sink in for some moments before calmed himself down and frowned in a clear sign that the mills inside his brain were spinning frenetically.

"Does she even have a _name_? I am under the impression that priestesses were forced into training at a really young age and thus they aren't give a name."

Of course that this information about sacred traditional rituals was foreign to him since only a bunch of selected people were allowed to learn about it, but a name had a symbol latched to it, a concept behind its meaning and so was the absence of a name.

The name of a person meant his liaison with his past, with his roots, with the ancestors and family, so basically erasing one`s given name or family name automatically implied erasing his existence and being given an artificial one. It meant alienation.

And that made Sasuke understand just how utterly lonely Sakura was. She was like Naruto who didn't have his parents or any living relative, only himself and a bag full of childish dreams and hopes. God, the world they were living in was torturous and pretty much fucked up.

Even something which was considered sublime, supreme and sacred was in reality wrapped in a bloody dark past.

"Why?" This time, the Uchiha`s inquiry challenged both Naruto and Shikamaru and both observed that Sasuke was trapped in one of his rare moments when he displayed just how vast, deep and versatile his way of thinking was. He was abnormally profound in this matter and this only sown how serious the problem with the Priestess was.

"Because they are Priestesses and thus no one cares about their name since no one talks to them? You know that she's lonely. One who lives like a hermit alone and constantly praying. Much like you bastard without the praying part cos you don't pray."

"Why?" Sasuke went on, ignoring Naruto`s childish and inelegant remark, only taking what was essential from it and namely the reason why she was who she was. Of course that he didn't need an encyclopedia about the lives of Priestesses, only the quintessence of their role. "Why is a priestess alone?"

Shikamaru and Naruto gave him a look which went beyond the lines of _'are you stupid'._ "Because a Priestess must stay away from sin? Charity is mandatory for a pure soul to get close to God and holiness? Or something troublesome like reaching Nirvana through the process of the purification of soul, I dunno. Ask her not us."

Albeit asking rogue ninjas whose hands were stained and soaked in blood was stupid and alien, Shikamaru answered nonetheless understanding that there must be something that Sasuke needed to comprehend if he went up pressing them with such a foreign topic.

To be honest, the Nara prodigy wouldn't lie and say that he too didn't give much thinking about the Priestess of Tea, having an inkling that she was much more than the eyes can see and he even tried to subtly steal some information from Ino Yamanaka, but it looked like regular shinobi didn't know much about her, rather than she was intangible, divine, a symbol of peace and virtue and someone who they should respect and stay away from and this is what his intelligent brain quickly caught on.

 _Why_ so much mystery for a single person who was supposed to help the others and thus stay as close to them as possible? Only to preserve the sacrosanct element or there was another reason behind her choice not to reveal her face to anyone?

If she snuck into the Village –any other Village, without disclosing her title as the Priestess of Tea, then no one would recognize her and being inconspicuous was one of the basic rule of the _shinobi._ Uchiha was right, there was something fishy with her kunoichi training and all the secrecy around her.

Orochimaru would never cease on ghosts without having at least one solid proof to lead him to something powerful and that man was one of the most power obsessed shinobi in the entire history.

"If she is indeed hiding something great then why would it be a priestess and not a Shinobi? "That was a good question coming from Sasuke who wouldn't cast away her title as a Priestess.

Sakura always insisted that she was a priestess first and then a kunoichi, so meaning that she was _both_ of them.

So whatever her secret was or whatever she was hiding, required both her personalities for the task –the kunoichi _and_ the priestess, and damn… it was hard to find a meaning and a parallel between two antagonistic concepts. One lived without emotions and rather as the avatar of a weapon to obey to orders and stain her hands with the blood of innocent while the other was cleansing their souls and loved them unconditionally, being pure as snow and all forgiving.

"Because no one would suspect her who lives alone in perfect harmony with God and nature and has nothing to do with the Shinobi world?"

Shikamaru hit the nail in the head without even realizing it how close to the truth he was. "You are wrong. She is a kunoichi and a skilled one that is. I have seen it myself." There was a tingle of ego blow oozing from Sasuke`s steady inflection but no one dared to question it for obvious reasons.

"Or maybe there is a solid valid reason why she is supposed to be a ninja trainee. That if we consider the other option of her guarding something of tremendous value and importance. Something which requires a lot of strength to be protected and… _controlled_."

This is where his sable orbs kindled with an unusual flame as he grew as serious as possible and in fact, Sasuke came one step closer to the truth, following Shikamaru`s lead.

Indeed, if someone has been granted an unusual power, then naturally that force had to be tamed and kept on a leash; control was the key in the shinobi world albeit it could destroy and Naruto has been a good example of that until he managed to control the Kyuubi lying dormant inside him like a latent weapon.

"Interesting indeed. I wonder about that…"

"Worrisome to say at least." Sasuke corrected the terminology used by Shikamaru. His brain might have been challenged with such an imbroglio of mysteries, but the Uchiha was more pragmatic and sensed the potential danger from miles away. "This may cause us problems. Huge problems."

"How so? Why would that lil` hot shawty bring us troubles." Not being able to control himself, Shikamaru mumbled under his chin but Naruto and Sasuke caught it anyhow. "Except for giving _you_ trouble that is."

"What if our enemies or anyone else would be interested in what she hides? We are going to clash with strong rivals at some point in time."

"Agree. Why don't we know what she guards from Orochimaru? What about his protégés?"

"No clue. He didn't share such things with them. Maybe Kabuto would have more information about that considering the fact that he was his favorite part."

It was not a secret that Shikamaru never fully trusted the old associates of Orochimaru especially those who were very close and faithful to him and shared his ideology such as Karin or Kabuto and even if the red haired Uzumaki female has earned his trust up to a point, the Nara fugitive will never trust Kabuto who was basically the one who worshipped his image up to the point where he wanted to end up stealing his identity and associating himself with the snake faced Sannin aspiring to overthrown him by stealing a part of his soul and infusing it into his own body.

"Orochimaru was interested about the Priestess of Tea. He did nothing on a whim." Sasuke knew better that anyone just how potent and thirsty for domination and power was that man, albeit he hid his menacing intentions between the façade of wanting to possess all the Jutsu in the world but his real reason for that was to acquire the power necessarily to make sure that he won't lose to anyone ever again and by learning every technique in the world, Orochimaru thought that nothing will catch him with his guard down –like the Sharingan did.

And he _did_ his research when it came to hunting myths and relics of the past or raiding the abandoned shrines and tombs of the forbidden clans, so there must be a reason for him to be so absorbed by the fascination of the Priestess of Tea`s story. But unlike him, Sasuke was not power hungry at least not on that level.

Having fulfilled his dream of revenge now he was way over that mirage and away from the infinite loop that his brother has almost threw him into, because there was one detail that both Itachi and that questionable Tobi character have gravely overlooked –Sasuke has never been a puppet trapped blindly into their clever web.

He was never truly _manipulated,_ only that was what he wanted them to believe in order to get the desire information from them by playing a fool all the times.

Yes, he has been naïve and less experienced in the past, but he was still an Uchiha with a brilliant mind to make up for everything he lapsed in age and also he was devoted to only his own path and not what the others sketched for him –thus he disagreed with Sakura`s ways and concepts about world and destiny and felt more connected to Naruto`s rebellious and stubborn personal dreams, as utopic as they might have seemed.

"The concept of a Priestess in _general_?" Shikamaru smartly noted because it was one thing to be interested in her as a person for thinking that she might be someone miraculous to give him back his sealed hand or provide a more valuable vessels for his technique

"Probably both, knowing him. Orochimaru was the most meticulous man that I have ever met, even surpassing my brother Itachi in going into the depths of a problem and overanalyzing its pro and cons and he had the intuition and genius to do it almost flawless, so there must be some secret wrapping that woman that I absolutely must know."

Was it _only_ because of a potent latent power that she might possess the reason why the Priestess spiked his curiosity or was denial playing the solstice of himself trying to ebb it into his skull that he wasn't affected by her presence?

That entire situation was ramming into his skull ingraining figments that didn't belong there, that wanted to take over his judgment and trick him into thinking that those feelings belonged to him when in reality, it was just fine and elegant manipulation.

She was… absolutely driving him insane with everything she did, with all her ineffable mystery, the innocent, those smiles, the subtle rubicund blushes when he watched her, her taste, the dream of her lips when he kissed her, that voice rewinding his most secret memories... she was haunting him, torturing him like the finest demon in disguise, she was plaguing and poisoning his mind, she was getting him _addicted_.

* * *

"Oi bastard, where are you going?"

Shikamaru and Naruto both stood up seeing the perfect porcelain indecipherable features of Sasuke`s mien being washed by something that they have only seen before once when Sasuke learned the truth about his brother and Konoha`s order to annihilate his kinsmen; delirium, ambition, rage and pure malice.

Triggered renegade misconceptions and ardent feelings amassing inside him into a pool ready to burst was too much for his bucket to take, but they have been pinned into their place when Sasuke interjected sternly.

"I have to find out." He rounded the huge office table and made the scrolls and files scattered around flare and roll onto the floor by the sudden spike of the wind caused by his sudden motion as Sasuke encircled the desk and stormed to the door. "Before it comes down on us when we last expect it, I have to see it for myself what she hides."

What _Konoha_ shelters.

Sakura was a Priestess and now Sasuke thought that he got the gist about her role and it was definitely not meant for her to play the saint with everyone who needed a hand or a shoulder to cry on, because in the moment when the term shinobi was into the equation, then Sasuke knew that everything else except for blood and manipulation was just an act; a cheap trick, a façade meant to fool, to deceive the others, but it wasn't going to fool _him._

Vaguely, as he was literarily belting the cracked pavements galloping along the streets that were so familiar and yet so vaguely melancholic into his heart, Sasuke couldn't help but have a short moment of his conscience telling him that maybe the Priestess herself was the puppet of someone else`s ambitions and she was also being manipulated, but he refused to get more connected to her than necessarily.

The things happening between them were blitzing him too fast, it hit him like a tornado and he wasn't fast enough to react and adding it to the last night`s events, Sasuke decided that he has played the nice guy with her until the point where it became ridiculous and absurd, so consequently he was hasting his pace to his home to change that.

Running an enraged trembling hand through his messy locks as occasionally villagers who were scurrying outside to search from food or work on their ravaged homes, cleaning the streets and the shops all backed away seeing the aura about him, Sasuke couldn't help but clench his jaw until his temples nearly exploded in anger.

Dropkicking his front door open with an inelegant blow, Sasuke went straight into the room where the Priestess` chakra was the most resonant, finding it very light and somehow anxious but her feelings didn't interest him in the bit.

She looked so very domestic in a simple grey yukata and cleaning one of the windows, humming something absentmindedly and she whirled hear head backwards in the moment when his not so gentle steps made the wooden floor shriek under his heel and the air to turn crisp and icy.

She was surprised that he was back so quickly after she woke up alone on his couch and surrounded by empty bottles of liquor and empty potato bags and an indescribable nauseous feeling in her gut and a throbbing headache, but she cured it with tea and fresh air knowing what to do from her Shishou Tsunade, then busying herself with cleaning the entire house further as every single corner needed to be dusted off and she could only do that superficially.

And albeit Sakura couldn't for the love of all that`s holly remember what has happened the night prior, she would never forget the feelings lingered to the blurred actions and something beautiful, suave and yet timid like a bud of a tulip barely blooming into a full flower was gracefully touching her chest and made her heart beat faster whenever she thought about Sasuke and the need to tap her lips and have that amazingly sweet and yet distant feeling along her skin was nearly turning into a shenanigan.

So when the said Uchiha`s unmistakable resonance flared behind her back, she turned her head over her shoulder to call his name but everything that her heart suspired for froze midway along with her smile when she saw the look on his face. "Sasuke you are early–"

"–what are you guarding in your Shrine, _Priestess_?" Not giving her any moment to charm him with another innocent murmur, he cut her short sternly presenting a side of him that was even more ruthless than the one when they first made contact and it was bloodcurdling.

Words were sealed on her parted lips and her jade orbs were so open and full of confusion as they were fixed on his own blood tinged ones, signalizing that this man was not only furious but also craving for blood and no matter how much she tried to keep anything to her, he saw it all.

That sudden tiny flicker to emotion in her eyes and the demure attitude and her feelings for him were an open scroll meant for those Sharingan orbs to depict it as they were missives coded for only him to decipher easily and he did.

This time, even if Sakura would attempt to lure him into her sweet trap, even if his traitorous body and even mind would fell prey, his eyes wont. "Wnswer me and don't you _dare_ lie to me because I won`t buy it."

 _This time._

He bad her again saying anything that she might have to say and injecting every syllable with poison, malice and an iciness that lacerated her skin like million icicles during a violent arctic storm, knocking the wind out of her lungs.

Trembling short steps brought Sakura farther from his approaching form in pure fright, gulping hard to soothe the lump in her throat to no avail, until her back she hit a wall gulping but kept her composure, already knowing that any battle with the Uchiha now was as good as worthless, pointless and lost before it even began.

The look in his eyes… _those_ eyes were… "W-What can I possibly be safekeeping in my Shrine? My own faith and the spirit of nature and faith-"

The low deep sound of the back of his palm slamming hard against the wall beside her head her and made a painting dotting that barren side wall trembled with an eerie sound of a haunted mansion and suddenly Sasuke didn't look like the man who managed to make her heart race in emotion in such a short amount of time, but more like a man that Sakura couldn't recognize.

Brute barbarous infusion of rage enveloped his entire cold conniption. Sasuke was so distant and cold that she even felt like trying to cease away a constellation on the sky that wasn't even existing in her time –time moved in reverse for them in that moment. The more she tried to get close, the farther from her he got. "–wrong answer _Priestess_."

Acid and venom were spitting on her name in the way he basically ridiculed it, hissing like a venomous Boa snake, inching closer to breathe against her face and Sakura swore that his eyes slayed through her soul and his words against her skin felt like puncturing her like burning needles of a bee, making her burn physically.

Out of reflex, Sakura tried to eschew her eyes and not look into those hypnotically fractal pentagrams but Sasuke will not indulge into anything polite and refined with her, so he roughly gripped her chin leaving his fingertips` imprint against her nacre skin and forced he to look up. He has never so harsh with her before, not even when they first met.

Lips parted in shock emerald does widen and clear trapped by ruby red. "Let's try on one more time since you seem to mistake me for an idiot."

So much coldness hissing the words to her like a serpent and suddenly Sakura felt sick into her stomach and lightheaded. "What is the deal with you being a _priestess_? What does this really mean? And more importantly, what kind of treasure are you safeguarding in your supposed Shrine? And why _you_ from all the people and not anyone else?" Legitimate questions cascaded from his venomous lips in rapid streams.

Why was he questioning her like this and why now from all the times? Has something happened while he has been out of the home, has someone tried to warn him about her purpose?

Was someone who knew about her –that exclusivist circle of people trying to betray her _and_ the secret of the Chakra Fruit and plot with the enemy instead?

But more importantly, why was he acting like this with her and why was his once creamy touch felt so calloused, so distant and so aggressive with her?

And why did Sakura feel like there were million light years separating the two of them and that was the reason why she didn't indulge into the brisk impulse to break down and lament, because exuding her fear now was as lethal as it was for a lamb to fell prey to the hungry wolf by portraying fear and not a single warrior bone inside her to try and overcome her weak nature.

She tried to inhale steadily and pull herself together, portraying a mild calm conniption but this time those subtle strategies were in vain because Sasuke`s Sharingan orbs were merciless and gave her no chance; he lost the playful demeanor.

 _No more games._

He was seeing right through her like a rocket piercing the universe going at million miles per hour and no matter how bad she was trying to determine the source of his inkling, everything was futile because he seemed to have figured her out... but how? "Why are you acting like this, Sasu–"

"–usually, when I ask a question I expect to get some answers in return." The last Uchiha cut her sternly before she sang his name in that light violine rythm which apparently had the uncanny ability to make him go lenient on her, griping her wrist when she tried to touch his shoulder softly and pinned her against the wall, hissing upon her face like a demon whose disguise was slowly fading off, lips nearly grazing along her skin. "And so help me _God_ that I have very effective ways to get them by _force_."

His threat fell like a boulder against her heart and the wetness aligning under her fluttering eyelids became unbearable to control but Sakura was not a kunoichi for nothing; she wouldn't show fear because she was not remotely scared of Sasuke, but rather… the sorrow in her heart waded throughout her system and filled her with an unbearable feeling of sadness.

What was going on here? What was happening with this man to make him so enraged and plus, Sakura knew it all too well that under no circumstance must she allow Sasuke or anyone else to find her secret.

 _Even in exchange for her life._

So she tried to find a middle way and not add to his already enraged mood, talking softly and murmuring to him sweetly, halfway shutting her emerald orbs and looking at the lock he had on her hand; the Jutsu between them felt like a glimpse of how the fire in Hell would burn, making her feel strangled, unprotected and in total antithesis to what he usually made her feel –comfort, protection and …warmth. "Please y-you`re hurting m–"

He encased those feelings spilling from her before they did more damage on him. "–you thought that you can whirl me around your finger with your little game of innocence but you though wrong, _priestess_."

The hold he had on her fragile hand tightened and when his ominous aura became even more menacing and stronger, so did the hold he had on her and the chakra restraining her own, burning and stinging her instead of tickling her skin jolly like it usually did. The color of grapes went a darker shade and more ominous; she felt everything he was capable of and it was petrifying.

Sakura didn't let fear crease her features because she knew she had to stay strong. Even if he killed her, she still couldn't say a word about the Chakra Fruit, so no matter how much Sasuke was trying to pierce her mind and find out, he will find nothing because there was a protective barrier around her mind to avoid being interrogated –and Sakura was the only one who had the key to unlock it and _confess_ everything, but only willingly and not by force.

"You mistook my behavior so far for one of a fool`s. I am nowhere near loving nor affectionate. Haven't I warned you before?"

Did he actually realize that he was inching closer to her, like wanting to ebb those words into her remind. It burned and plagued her and she felt like unable to breath. Like a rain forest and a dessert burning and scorching her and even drop of life was draining from her.

Sasuke was menacing and scary. She felt hypnotized by those eyes and yet she gulped and somehow resisted him. He could easily toss her into a genjutsu and get over with but somehow he wanted her to tell him voluntarily and not force the words from her.

 _Why?_

* * *

He had no idea. He was clues and this pissed him off so he did the most reasonable thing of all. Eyes blazing like an unleashed hurricane washing along the coastline through the shore of her mind, he hissed. " _Sharingan_!"

The shaking Priestess nearly fell limp into his arms by the way he blew the walls around her mind and suddenly Sasuke felt himself surrounded by myriads of scattered images and blurred intangible silhouettes like fine smokes but he had an unsettling sensation of landing into a decadent Gothic circus with derisive masks laughing at him and hitting him with invisible forces.

Then a serenity enveloped him from the outside as he felt the imaginary meandering floor sweep from under his feet and he found himself envisioning fragments of the Priestess` life at her Shrine, but he couldn't look inside as the picture was zooming in to focus on her and her soothing feelings, but something that he couldn't name was wrong about the scenery.

There were thousand-and-one energies spilling around him and slayed through his skin albeit he couldn't locate them, but it felt like colliding with the nature itself; immeasurable and indefinite as the Universe oozing of an incredible power, which resembled a concoction of the five chakra elements and it was something on another scale. Something that Sasuke has never felt before and a cold droplet of sweat rolled along his Adam Apple as he found himself almost… anxious.

 _What is this?_

And why was the picture of Sakura praying and burning incense in front of an abnormal Deity with a seemingly familiar face, so bizarre and so outlandish?

Focusing his Sharingan to penetrate deeper into the memory as this Priestess was full of tricks and seemed to be resistant to Genjutsu knowing how to theoretically counter it and block him, feelings of her exuded from her lissome form and ricocheting to him.

He nearly gasped in surprise when he opened up the lock of his mind to welcome the photographic mental images that the Sharingan conveniently printed to him when he deciphered the content of it.

The Priestess… now he realized the reason why an offbeat feeling coursed through him when he found himself tossed into her world, since he was supposed to feel calm, composed and reach that serenity and tranquility that only a prayer would grant.

She had _no_ memories!

 _No memories at all! What the fuck?!_

Shaking his head and cursing softly under his breath, Sasuke wrapped his hands around Sakura`s waist seeing that she was already weak and paralyzed and nearly sliding along the wall ,keeping her trapped between his rock chiseled body and the wall and trying to focus one more time and make sure that she wasn't deceiving him because this was impossible!

Mangekyou Sharingan flared at its full brilliance boring into the most secluded shelves of her mind, traversing the bookshelves of her labyrinthine mind like wandering through an ancient library with hard covered book in search for something providential that only a thirsty for absolute alchemist would look for.

A whispered bemoan fell prey to her parted lips in relation to him reaching the early days of her childhood as the only memory he found to be associated to something else that wasn't that damned Shrine that she was praying in and supposedly guarding.

He could see a small little cute girl, with blushing cheeks and skin as pure as crystal snowflakes crying in the middle of the forest in a village that Sasuke didn't recognize because the image resembled a painting into a frame with dark surroundings.

That was the little Priestess! And she seemed alone and abandoned and that hollow feeling of disorientation, confusion and panic was so strong and unbiased in that child that it reminded Sasuke of his little kid version after the Uchiha Massacre and he inwardly rejoiced with Sakura.

Why was she there, crying and alone and where were her parents? Plus, there was something else that he itched to absolutely find out and that was her _name._

She learned his by chance and because the blabbermouths that he called friends were all dumb and the words subtlety and discretion were alien concepts to them, so it was only natural that he will steal the information he needed to in his own way.

But… he didn't find out anything!

Not a single name, no relation to any family no… nothing. _What was going on here?_ Was she under some sort of a technique working as a Seal to block the others to enter her mind and steal whatever was she keeping as a secret?

That only fueled their assumptions more because now Sasuke had a valid reason to suspect that the Priestess was nesting something of an incredible value, otherwise why would her past be veiled in so much enigma and not to mention, what was wrong with her mind?

Sasuke knew about the powerful mind techniques of the Yamanaka clan and of course that he was also filled in with the Intel Division Leaders of the Hidden Leaf and their Leader Ibiki Morino and thus he had information about Seals they used to both decrypt information and seal it away but…

No, his Sharingan would have literarily slay through every single barriers no matter how powerful they were.

Those eyes were never lying, they were showing the truth objectively and not a distorted version of events molded by his biased preconceptions, and whatever magic Jutsu has been placed on the Priestess, he was supposed to see it sound and clear only he wasn't.

Those feelings were spilling like pearls along a golden necklace and they were enhanced by the image of her so vulnerable, helpless, without protection and his heart overlapped the image of her crying in the middle of nowhere self, to his crying orphan self and so he knew that the grief, the sorrow, the misery, the inability to change the past and escape from the nightmare of being alone and hopeless in the world was powerful and heart breaking.

It made his own suppressed and scarred feelings start to bleed again, conjuring the same old demons to waltz right back to him but unlike her, he was stronger –a much stronger adult version of himself.

What about her? Did someone purposely erased her mind? And if that was the case, then how come her feelings remained and still lingered to her mind and heart?

Because it was crystal clear that Sakura wasn't someone like Sai –unemotional and trained to be the perfect assassin and a marionette in the hands of the corrupted power, no.

Sai has been trained to forcibly smother his emotions to the point where he became detached and unbiased, but not Sakura.

The Priestess had feelings albeit they seemed to be too utopic to be true but he felt her soul and heart, she wasn't hiding from him at all –albeit that kind of bothered Sasuke because she managed to steal reactions that he wouldn't want to grant her.

Common logic let Sasuke understand that feelings were attached to memories and conceptualizations.

So naturally that if one of the two elements disappeared, then the other one would soon follow and this is the reason why he was so positive that no one has erased Sakura`s memory and nor did they seal her past in order to protect something else.

Something was hidden in that Shrine but he was so absorbed by the sudden mystery, one that he wasn't expecting it, that his bleeding orbs started to draw him of energy fast.

The Sharingan told him that Sakura was indeed guarding something of a tremendous importance, just like he has supposed and now he was more than ready to go and ravage that Shrine and find it.

Orochimaru was not a stupid man, albeit he was the flamboyant type to always chase impossible enigmas and hunt for treasures, but everything he did had a solid ground behind. He was right about his interest in the Priestess of Tea –she was valuable and now she was in _his_ capable hands.

Sasuke oathed to himself that he won't be lenient with her from here on out, that was already decided in his vexed mind. He was so angry that he couldn't find a name or even another face amidst the collections of useless trivia about her praying.

He loathed her even more for being so reminiscent to him and somehow understanding the concept of loneliness so well and use that trick as a liaison to reach _him._

He burned with the desire to hear her name, damn it! Something so stupid and yet it was starting to occupy a good part of his mind because Sasuke absolutely set his mind to make her sing it like a canary.

There has to be someone to know the name of this woman, whoever she was and judging by every depths that the Sharingan allowed him to explore, she was a foreigner who wasn't born in Konoha and this was interesting.

The Priestess had a long tradition set in the Hidden Leaf so naturally if they guarded a treasure that belonged to the Leaf, they should be a citizen born in the Leaf thus being committed and faithful to the Leaf.

 _Unless…_

Unless she was guarding something that was important not only to the Leaf but to the _entire_ Shinobi World and suddenly everything started to make more sense.

His holographic self has focused back on the Shrine and tried to pierce her mind and reach to those corners where she secluded the mystery he was looking for and he found it when she let her Delphic gossamer form slide through him, smiling and holding a strange object that she probably used for praying in her Princess like hands and sunk into one of the room of the Shrine, making a quick hand sign that he quickly caught and flawlessly memorized into the back of his memory with his Sharingan and a secret trap slide open, revealing stairs that sunk deeper into the pits of the building.

 _Bingo!_

He smirked in unabashed victory as he quickly followed her steps but as soon as he did so, something into the form of a violent air pressure or a current has hit him full force and sent him flying backwards as he came back into the room, orbs widened and spinning madly into their sockets, panting and burning of perspiration rolling along the crevices of his chiseled chest in rapid streams, looking at the Priestess.

Her emerald orbs were barely opened and her green apple irises seemed to burn her pupils, being prismatic and lustrous, silently pleading him to stop torturing her mind, but he didn't care.

Her weakened state, the obvious fragments of fever now materializing in rolls of sweat latching to her temples and hair and rolling along her neck and heart shaped cleavage and the quivering of her tiffany body which seemed to melt against the wall and become one with the touch of the torpid light coming from the bulb into the hall didn't earn her his sympathy anymore.

"Speak." Seeing that she tried to dip down her eyes and deflect from him like she admitted defeat but she was a headstrong prisoner who refused to sell the secrets of her Village, Sasuke almost bristled, gripping her chin in a painful grip and forced her to look him in the eyes.

"Don`t make me act in a way that I don't like and force the words out of your goddamn mouth."

He could feel her trembling like fluttering _leaf_ in the hands of a crushing wind carrying it far away from its protective tree under his harsh touch and the calloused words, but he didn't care.

The mesmerizing hypnotized Priestess who was now listless into his arms and completely at his mercy was not understanding how terrible their situation was because the enemy might stomp on the Leaf and seek for the Shrine even before he had the chance to do, just because she refused to talk.

"Don't you realize it that if our enemies find out about a treasure or a powerful technique hidden somewhere here, then you are putting us all into great danger? Orochimaru already suspected you and was interested in you, the Priestess of Tea. Do you think that no one else knows about this?"

He didn't try to appeal to her common sense and make her voluntary disclosing it to him because he could see her warrior committed personality and understood that she was faithful and thus she will never tell him on her own accord. No, Uchiha was trying to make her open up her eyes and see for herself that things were far from pink, far from perfect.

Sakura couldn't live her entire life protecting something of such importance, without no one to notice it. People naturally sought for power and the more powerful they were, the more tempted they were by chasing power.

It was just human nature to strive to become stronger, better, to reach ineffable and perfection albeit that was utterly impossible by default.

So naturally that strong shinobi will always try to find their way to a technique or an oasis of endless power to grant them the chance to rule over the world and Sasuke had the feeling that it was something like that the thing that Sakura was guarding –a strong Jutsu.

It was elemental and plainly obvious. A kunoichi who had no concept of striving for power, pure and uncorrupted by ambitions, someone who wouldn't be tempted to use it for her own wicked benefit, was definitely guarding a Jutsu.

"What is your purpose? Why can't I access your memories from the past? Who was that child? I saw everything, don't you dare hiding it from me. And more importantly… what are you hiding into the secret room that those stairs lead to? What`s with that strange Jutsu that protects it, hm? Must be something ridiculously important if it is protected by both you and such a strong technique."

Sasuke was not stupid. When he refused the cooperation with that supposedly questionable tangerine masked character who posed as Uchiha Madara the notorious founder of the Uchiha Clan, then he clearly did it with a good purpose.

That man nourished higher ambition and ulterior motives, ones that weren't appealing to Sasuke. The powerless relic of the past was concocting an ambigous plan and albeit he refused to disclose it to someone who didn't accept a partnership with him first, Sasuke figured him out right from the start–it was written into the sole visible eye of his Sharingan.

That lone eye reflected the inner soul and the feelings mirrored inside were somehow similar to Sasuke`s.

Only an Uchiha would understand another kinsmen, but Madara`s thirst for power was not supported by a lucid and reasonable dream like Sasuke`s, no, that person has surrounded himself with ridiculously strong bizarre shinobi definitely for a reason.

His brother was a spy for Konoha inside that organization but he died with a smile on his face and a lie in his eyes about whatever they were hiding, foolishly hoping that Sasuke will blindly walk back to his homeland and live narcotized in a self-induced illusion for the rest of his life, oblivious to it all and stupidly happy.

So naturally the last Uchiha had no doubt that Tobi or whatever that character`s real name was most likely targeting the Priestess of Tea.

In fact, he humorlessly thought about the fact the he conveniently made their job easier because they knew that his plan was to crush the Leaf and that included imprisoning her but… at the same time he had an advantage, one that Madara was blindly overlooking.

She was with _him_ and from that point of view, his protection was beneficent. Sasuke will never let the Akatsuki or anyone else take the Priestess from him.

But first, he had to find out about what she was guarding and this woman refused to open up her eyes and cooperate willingly.

Oh Kami he so _so_ didn't want to be brutal with a woman, especially someone who had an intimate connection to the Heavens, but he had no choice.

"Y-You don't u-understand S-Sasuke…" Her voice was so tiffany, strangled and abnormally silent and lacking the flamboyant vivacious resonance and he could see that she was not pleading and using the last barriers she had to prevent him to crush her entirely.

"You can never… s-someone like you… d-don't try to force this out of me, I will never say. I w-will never betray the secrets of the Priestess–"

His hold around her waist has tighten and constricted her like a snake crushing her into his muscular chest until she couldn't breathe normally anymore and his finger coiled around her pointed chin left a burning red hue imprinted on her porcelain skin as his fingertips travelled along her jawline to grip her cheek and force her to arch her neck deeply and brought her one inch closer to his face, hissing to her and barely keeping himself on a leash not to shout at her.

"–stop it with that bullshit woman, you are absolutely driving me _hysteric_ with how stupid you are." It was the first time when he lost his cool around someone like this, especially a woman and his cold words from earlier burst in flames like charcoals as he started to pour emotions into them and they were not positive ones. "Don't you see that the world you have imagined only exists in your goddamn mind?"

Her emerald orbs were soaked in sadness and rejection and so much hurt, but she seemed to revel in it and welcome his harsh words and brutal negative behavior with open arms like being a martyr and giving nothing but affection and sympathy in return.

"M-My life… is a blessing," She whispered upon his lips fanning her warm mint over his lips but he was too far deep drenched into his rage and purpose to observe the tension and closeness between their proximity. "I have a definite s-scope as a Priestess s-so please do not make f-fun of it and t-tarnish my name."

"Heh, some life you have." A humorless sigh rolled out of his lavish lips. She couldn't be anymore brainwashed, Sasuke concluded.

Someone has manipulated this woman into embracing those idealistic concepts and she was far worse that the dobe who wished to befriend the entire world and bring everyone together through mutual understanding of pain, friendship and love.

He was surrounded by extreme nitwits. "You can't even disclose your real name. You live a life that has been imbued into your empty brain. This is beyond pathetic."

No, in fact Sasuke felt something clasp painfully inside his chest imagining that this woman was an even worse condition that any of them.

He had friends, good or bad, but they stuck to him like glue. He once considered himself to be the most tortured man because he has gone through the living hell of seeing his family bonds of love and affection collapse like pieces of domino trapped into the horrifying dance of losing everything in his life in a single night, but soon enough Sasuke realized that he was still lucky to have the dobe and the others beside him to make his suffering easier to carry, but not her.

This woman had no memories, no home, her mind was haunted by fugitive heartbreaking photographs with no date, no name and a sea of sentiments imbuing her with that unexplainable indulgence into the role of a symbolic Priestess, willing to guard something that might play as her doom once it will be discovered.

She was by far the most miserable out of there and her condition even made someone as steel like with a cold heart as Uchiha Sasuke feel _pity_ for her.

And something else that was desperately trying to cling to him, but he absolutely locked all the doors to the fortress of his heart securing it with two hard locks and keeping her at distance, was churning inside his chest, kindling the latent bonfire within the candle of his heart, pleading to be nourished to burn and warm his insides.

Of course that a lonely soul will naturally seek for an equally lonely one for _completion._ Not only the Priestess was kind hearted and always willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of the others and soothed their hearts, he didn't doubt her faith and purity, but she was also very lonely.

But no matter how much of a tortous picture perfect they might have been in playing each other`s scar tissue, he wasn't her other half. She had to get that straight into her brainwashed narcotized skull that she must _never_ fall in love with him.

Never because Sasuke will never reciprocate her love and nor was he someone who desired commitment or affection. He lost those once and it was enough to scar and haunt him for the rest of his life.

"You are wrong. You are so wrong. I do have an identity as a Priestess and a role too. You don't understand." She shook her head and her words steeped with quenched tears that turned her lustrous eyes into shimmering mirrors still maintaining that suave voice albeit she was more emotional and somehow submissive and pleading.

Sakura was in no position to fight him and she was aware of it. Her only option was to start and sing the truth to him and they both knew that and yet she refused to betray her purpose.

She was admirable for it because as weak and fragile as she was with her crystal doll appearance, the Priestess was strong and courageous. _It took a lot of courage to be so weak_ , Sasuke ironically surmised.

"I don't really? Then _make_ me understand. What does it mean to be a priestess? What is your purpose beside being g worshipped like a Goddess and get gifts from poor people for free? Besides living like a mirage, what good can you do?"

All of his life Sasuke has strived to acquire what he currently had and never asked anyone for anything and so he couldn't comprehend how could someone live dependable of someone else for everything?

Just like he couldn't understand the virtual role of a Hokage to be a face that everyone praises and acclaims, when in reality he was just a marionette for the Council and those who subsumed the entire power and influence and kept a low profile.

Those were the real _puppet masters_ in Sasuke`s ideology and those were the ones to take the decisions while the Hokage was always forced to compromise and be lenient.

Only Naruto deemed that title as aspirational and worth of a great privilege and worshipped it as the figure of a true hero.

It was hard not to divert her orbs from those caustic sable orbs of Sasuke, eyes that shone with a blazing intensity that thousand suns in the sky were no match for how intense they burned, but Sakura had no philosophy about giving up or running away to hide from the things that were oppressive or offensive.

So she sought for his bleeding claret pupils and gulped once to alleviate the knot in her throat; his Genjutsu on her drained of the last drop of energy and she couldn't drain chakra from his Jutsu ebbed around her wrists because apparently that was also something that he voluntarily controlled and now he had limitless walls around his form, because she felt like a helpless beggar pounding to the doors of a heartless king residing into a ghostly castle.

"They need someone to listen, someone to understand... someone they could come to in search for a blessing, for a prayer, for advice, someone to care about them, to show them **love** , to cure them," Her tune was mellow and strained like she was barely moving those sapid lips to talk.

"Just like _you_ need someone to care about you and think about you. You didn't bring me here to keep an eye on me nor to tarnish my reputation."

Sakura set her orbs down to ensconce from him, opting to peek on her left through the window and tryto depict the sun creeping from behind the clouds. "The villagers already hate me now because of my affiliation to you, so you can put me into a cell where the other shinobi if my presence here is so disturbing."

He just looked at her speechless while trying to focus on his anger because of the audacity to keep on defying him, using the worst of tactics, namely never respond to anger with more anger and always stay so angelic and so helplessly sincere.

Listening to the Priestess` creamy voice tingling his skin like a ray of light touching him tenderly was too much to handle and frankly he loathed her for that –for making his chest pang and pound painfully because of how he could feel the outlines of her delicate bones crush under his painful grip, like _he_ was the heartless executioner who was breaking her and yet she wasn't complaining about her current situation.

No Sakura was always thinking about the others –ironically enough, those were people who despised and rejected her.

"But you didn't. You keep me here because you need something to return to," Sakura looked into the abysses of his orbs with an intensity and a courage that she never had before. "someone who understands, someone who waits,"

Light soprano octaves were melodious and whispering so tenderly to Sasuke as he couldn`t let his orbs traipse from her lustrous ones. "someone who _cares_."

Silence slayed between their words in percussing taps of broken violins trying to fall into a harmonious cadence, being forgotten and broken after she whispered to him words that lacerated through his heart.

A chocking engulfing silence canoodled both Sasuke and Sakura into an unexpected lavish intimacy; time seemed to lose the race with her heart; why was it pounding with such fervent intensity? The poor organ was just a dainty crystal butterfly trying to fly high to the sky but his own wings were keeping him moored to the ground.

She knew, oh she SO knew that Sasuke was alone, so alone, a loneliness drown into his rejection of everything that required human contact, admiration or recognition because he naturally eschew from those bonds; liaisons that he deemed as making him weaker, more fragile.

 _Commitment_ was a double edged sword because it could either bring you immeasurable felicity or break you beyond repair when lost, and Sasuke was someone who has already seen tremendous pain in the past, so he run away from anything that might require acknowledgment from the others, but it was a little different with a Priestess who had the face of an angel who never judged.

 _Never._

Sakura has been warned beforehand that the day when someone might oblige her to talk about her role and the secret of the Chakra Fruit might come, but she had to guard the secret will her life and beyond because if that immeasurable power fell in the wrong hands, then all the shinobi world will be done for.

At the same time, Uchiha`s ration was also a legit assumption. If there was indeed an enemy stronger than him searching for that Fruit in his savage hunger for domination then she should cooperate with him and tell him the truth, but she has lived her entire life trapped into the Shrine without bonds and human contact experience, so she had no idea whether she should tell Sasuke the truth or not.

Pus, he might be tricking her into stealing that information and play a smart twisted psychological mind game with her and make her tell him the truth, just so that he could use the power for his own benefit, but then again, Sasuke made it clear that his purpose was the change the Leaf and not conquer the entire shinobi world.

She didn't doubt it that he and his comrades were capable of it, but their action spoke otherwise so naturally someone with so little life experience, someone like her who hasn't interacted with the others felt very confused.

Who should she trust? Was Sasuke ethical? Should she trust his words that made so much sense or were his eyes concealing something else?

Those sable orbs didn't strike like the ones of a liar. No, he didn't have to lie to have his way with everything because he had that tremendous power at his disposal to obtain everything that he desired. Sasuke was not a liar because such approach was futile for someone whose Gates of power were yet to unravel what was behind them.

"This is so deplorable, " Her orbs shimmered like she wanted to cry but no tears run down from their sockets. "to be thinking like this. You try to act like an all forgiving saint when in reality you would like nothing more than to run away," The jade in her orbs gleamed incredulously. "you want to run far from me, because I made you a prisoner in my home and I killed your Hokage then turned yuor beloved Village into my personal playground," Sakura knew that Uchiha cared about it and he didn't destroyed the village on the contrary, he was helping it be prosperous again even after killing the higher ups."so stop acting like you truly care about me from the bottom of your heart,"

Sasuke gripped her hand and tucked shortly on it succesfully brought her flush into his chest, spitting Venom in her face. "because it makes me so _sick_." Sasuke simply couldn`t be in the presence of fake people. Yes, smart tricks and the unexplored art of deception were all part of a true shinobi`s arsenal and he was someone very versatille and explored his options carefully, but sneaky people like Orochimaru were abhorrent.

Sakura just stared at him speechless. She never questioned her purpose it was something that came from her soul pure and genuine like a white dove. She wanted to help everyone, every lost soul; this is what a Priestess does. She wouldn't judge anyone, she only forgives.

Exactly like she told him, her duty was something that she willingly chose - or so she thought and not something that has been forced on her, "Being forced... You think that someone is actually forcing me to be a Priestess who cares about everyone just because they demand it?"

The offended rosette fisted the material of his cotton shirt, narrowing her orbs at him in a fierce glimmer that even took Uchiha by surprise, getting angry. "How can you ever imagine that _feelings_ can be commanded? That they can be imposed on someone? This is so absurd! Being the Priestess of Tea is not a demand, it is a privilege!"

Sasuke still had a painful hold on her arm so she had to force their twined hands to lead them to her chest and let them rest above her thumping heart. Sasuke`s orbs widened ever so slightly at the unexpected contact and how her heart seemed to be so alive as it ticked feverously into her chest. "Feel this?" Every heartbeat ticked life through her in a disarray cadence.

Neither of them was counscious of the fact that Sakura`s heart rate was mostly stirred by Sasuke`s words, presence, touch and dubious demeanor.

"How do you think that I can fake something like this? How could this be pretense?" The Uchiha`s hold on her bony hand went suddenly softer as his now strawberry orbs reversed into the beautiful sapphire shade and simply stared at their entwined palms resting upon her breast. "tell me how can I?"

Silence has lingered between them in a thick mantle which sent shivers along their spines. Then Sasuke broke it unexpectedly, adressing her softly in his elegant baritone voice, glimmering once to recollect his scattered thoughts, inflection brushing along her skin being silkier than cashmere. "Words... Mean _nothing_ to me." He heard so many lies that an action oriented male like him didn`t praised them anymore and didn`t believe in their power and value. Ears were the worst enemy since it was only meant to spread a web of lies.

Words would never have the same strenght and resonance as gestures.

"Then what about memories?" From her unsophisticated clothes, Sakura suddenly revealed a small velvet red box with the Uchiha crest ebbed on it, placing it into his palm, holding the eye contact with Sasuke understanding that this was a man who needed the confirmation of her feelings and sought for every break into her sincerity, being accustomed to read through the missives of the eyes.

Sasuke`s beautiful orbs lingered one more moment on her ethereal face, then shifted to the object that she has offered to him, vaguely wondering why would she have an object which was clearly meant to be in the posession of an Uchiha, understanding that she was silently urging him to open it up he did. Orbs widened for a fraction when he recognized the object shimmering inside the box, nearly stammering in a way he never did before. "This is-"

Words which failed to traipse from his lips nearly left him breathless as the gleam into the diamonds mirrored the lucent in his eyes. Emotions coursed through to him like a spinnig watermill and Sasuke was unable to stop the course of that stream, since the symbolism behind that jewlery stood for the most powerful promises and conectedness.

Lackadasically, Sasuke brushed his fingertips over the precious sparkling red diamond carved atop the filigree finishing of the band, feeling his orbs getting glassy and moist. Memories... Memories of love, a promise, a vow, _commitment._

"–where did you get this from?" His words felt edgy, distant and cold seeming to be travelling into the past.

Sakura gulped once as anxiousness made it hard to swallow, speaking softly like a breeze. "I was cleaning the house and came across a secluded shelf where this ring was. I didn`t mean to be indiscreete and glimpse into your privacy, but I didn`t want to misplace it or break it since it looked like something precious."

Seeing that Sasuke seemed to entralled into the oasis of memories flooding his brain to answer to her, Sakura nearly whispered to him afraid not to get this man startled by her voice. "Was it–"

"–my mother's wedding ring." He confirmed in a lone voice that she never heard before. The jewelery was beyond words in beauty and value; such a fine crafted piece of jewelry not only it was worth of a royal but it was meant preach the history of a powerful clan, tradition and luxury ebbed on it but contrary to his explicit elegance, it was not value the one Sasuke was praising but its meaning.

He studied it while emotions came undone on his face but unlike other times when the topic would get him riled up and precipited, they was not hunting him anymore. "Don't touch my stuff without my permission… or my family`s."

"I am sorr–"

Abruptly, Sasuke whirled on his heel, closed the box with a short thud and turned his back on her intending to leave. "–No, wait!" He halted his movement upon hearing the desperation latched to her soprano her voice. Sakura padded two steps closer to him but didn't dare to come closer than that, understanding that distance was necesary between them in that moment.

He remained silent and simply waiting for her to state her point. "I know what you want, but please listen to me this one time. I am not trying to lie to you, Sasuke. Whatever you do, just don't approach the Shrine. It is more vulnerable now that I am not safeguarding it anymore, but what is hidden there is something that neither I and nor you or anyone else can control. Those are forces that were not to mess with, so please don't go there."

Carefully the last Uchiha listened and pondered the meaning behind those warning words. "You have no authority nor the power to stop me or tell me what to do." He thought about all their potential enemies and their motives. Madara possibly knew about the Priestess and her secret because the one and only time they met, he said something about needing more power. So it only meant that he and Shikamaru have been right in their assumptions.

"Whether I decide to wreck that shrine and burn it down until I find whatever is there or not, it is entirely _my_ decision. Your pathetic plea doesn't count."

"I know it doesn't but you are so thirsty for discovering that secret, then I have no other choice but to do my best to protect it at the cost of my own _life_. And even if I am nowhere near on your level the way I am now chakra depleted, I am afraid that I have no other choice but to fight you."

Her voice held a plea into it that made his gut ache. "Fight me and if I lose then… you can have _me_ all that you want to do as you _please_ , but I beg you _Sasuke_... just don't go to the Shrine."

Sakura didn't mean to have a sexual connotation behind her words, but Sasuke didn't miss its sudden resonance as she nearly offered herself to him _willingly_ as a last resort in lieu of protecting her secret. How in the world could this woman be both strong and weak at the same time? Her duality was confusing and made his mind reel in obscure.

What was wrong with him all of sudden, why was his entire form shivering and tremblinh like he was standing nude in front of an Arctic storm and why was the Priestess so hypnotic? He couldn't think straight with her in his presence. "That… would be completely pointless. Waste of my damn time."

He disregarded her with an apparently unfazed harsh rejection and slammed the door shut on his way out of the house. Sakura broke down her knees as she continued to stare at the shadow of his form, panting and gasping for oxygen while a lone tear fell of her jade eyes.

She remained like that for God only knows how much time until she shook her head and pulled herself up. "N-No! I must be strong and protect the secret of the Chakra Fruit no matter what! I gotta stop him at all costs!" She dashed after the Uchiha, brushing the fallen burning tears with the back of her palm, using their Jutsu connection to find him and it seemed to work as makeshift map, guiding her to Sasuke, because it glowed brighter when she managed to find the trace of his lingering steps.

She smiled softly to herself, knowing where he was.

* * *

 **A/N:** Are you guys updated with the latest anime episodes? Putting the last two fillers aside, I must confess that the episode marking the ending of the manga with the closure of Naruto and Sasuke`s strife and the glimpse into the future was strong, like damn... Now I know that everything depicted in there which failed to be revealed into the manga was heavily symbolic and portrayed as the first step to his long journey to redemption, but seeing Sasuke in _jail_ was deep. Of course that him atoning for his sin and proving his commitment to the Leaf naturally implied him accepting its jurisdiction thus he ended up incarcerated and paying for his transgression and crimes, but it still hurt me to see him in that servile and vulnerable state when we all know who he is and what is he capable of.

Of course that I savored all the jokes and puns about his imprisonment, the Seal which is nowhere near potent to his unique Sharinnegan eye or the fact that the guardian is Ibiki Morino. Of course that Sasuke has been willingly allowed them to put him into the prison but the contrast between Naruto`s overflowing popularity burst, his multiple bonds to the Kages, a peep into his journey to become Hokage and Sasuke`s apparently crushed wings was emotional. They are both taking it from zero to make their dreams come true and the comedy relief sprinkled throughout the episode was welcomed -Naruto`s lingering aversion to study and education is still dead funny to watch.

And of course that my favorite part of the show with Sasuke and Sakura`s interaction and his masked love confession and implied engagement through that familiar forehead tapping was beautiful and had me beaming to the entire scene. That was beautifully animated, I liked it so much.

Sorry for the short drivel but I absolutely needed to make a short incursion into the latest episode as some bits of it were not into the manga.

Now, I nowhere near intend to blabber about the same things over again and sound like a broken record, because everything that I had to say is written on my profile, so no need to lament all over it again. I will only take my time into once again pay my gratitude and respect to all of you who PMed me during the weeks of my absence and encouraged me with wise words and kind compliments. Know that no matter what happens, I will always be grateful to all of you for everything and please allow me to quote one of the most influent and wise Naruto character and say that **'I will always love you'** guys. You are my strength, my friends and my inspiration.

The reason why it took me so much to update my stories is school. I had some nagging deadlines and hardly had time to write, sorry about that.

Again, I am in a rush to post this for you guys to read, but know that your words are precious to me: **Guest, Guest, Guest, Guest, Lulu, Guest, C.S, Guest, Guest, Maram, MademoiselleRED, maufullbuster21, Guest, Guest, A Shadow Away, Nanny, A reader, guest, mixxymae59, Guest, hifi, Yami no Emi, Sky, Guest, Guest, ILoveSxS.** Thank you for all the encouragement, you guys are awesome.

To the **Guest** who provided his overview about the notion of 'ctiticism' know that your concept about it is the same as mine and if I could, I would have given you a hug and sent you cookies for your words. FINALLY someone gets it right about criticism and the fact that everything is subjective and reflects our personal opinions. But oh my, I wouldn`t even dare to dream that anything about my writing style might be reminiscent to that story, because there are million miles separating us. I can only dream that I will be reaching that sublime level of writing, but I am reasonable and know that this won`t ever happen unfortunately. You and the other reviewer **Nanny** are wayyyy too generous with me, I nowhere near deserve that comparison, that story set the bar too high for me to ever get there.

Hehe the **Guest** with the pun about the koi fishes pond, you my friend are so funny, even your reply is funny and uplifting! Thank you. I will try my best to keep it like that, juicy!

Also, **Savoppa** , **Cruelman** , **Anonkat** , thank you for being sincere in your reviews and tried your best to provide constructive suggestions about my story and also, I am very grateful that you have been elegant and cultivated in your words and refrained from being vulgar and flaming. I am positive that in this oasis of Sasuke and Sakura stories you will find ones to fully enjoy and fit your taste ,because this community is blessed with so many gifted and very versatile authors. I can name a few ones for recommendation if you would like.

Next time I will try my best to reply to all the reviews so I am sorry for cutting it so short, but I am rushing to post this chapter for you to read it.

I don`t know what else to say without appearing as cliche and heavily lamenting or begging for attention because this is not my purpose of being here, so I hope that you guys found this chapter -ehm- bearable since I will stick to my writing style and not trade if for something that will not fit my style and nor will it have my imprint on it. I truly hope that I didn`t sound like a whining annoying childish girl during my previous outburst. I apologize for making you worry and having such an overblown attitude. I must have appeared as someone very childish in my melodramatic moment. And now I am ashamed of myself in front of you guys...

Anyways, initially, this chapter was two times longer, so I split it in half for an easier reading. I will post the other part for you to read soon, so you can expect another fast update.

I have a little surprise for you guys in the next chapter, one that I truly hope that you will enjoy.

Like always thank you guys for reading, following and reviewing this story and not to mention thank you for your PMs. I will try to do my best and not disappoint. Also, to all my silent readers, I sallute you guys and thank you for giving me a chance.

Take care of you guys and arigatou for everything!

Till next time...


	12. Sinner in the Snow

**::Chapter XII** **– Sinner in the snow::  
**

* * *

Obsidian orbs were reflected into the water as his distorted reflection was staring right back to him from the calm clear mirror surface.

His aristocratic lone features collided with the beauty of the majestic landscape, enhancing the high masculine features. There was a melodious sound of a choir of crickets echoing along the surrounding forest and million galaxies shining like twinkling stars above his head.

His thoughts were drifting as far as the aurora grazing his mind while it refined fragments form a memorable scene that happened more than a decade ago.

He was interlacing with his younger version who has once been trained by his father in the arts of the Uchiha's most famous signature Jutsu.

A melancholic ghost of a smile curled his lush lips upwards as he waved the signs that were now natural and automatic as he spelled the name of the technique. "Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

His lips pursed as a violent ball roared from his mouth and illuminated the entire surface of the darkened lake, blazing to life like a Chinese dragon in the myths.

He remembered with a start how proud he was as an aspiring shinobi and a child - one so sweetly naive and with so many dreams, when he mastered that technique.

His heart was beating so fast into his small chest in that kind of joy that was typically for a child who hasn't gotten the taste of this world's darkness and trying to reminisce how staggering it felt, in vain.

His heart now was only an empty carapace and not even the ghost of that joy lingered inside him anymore, only emptiness. He worked so hard to get the acceptance and acknowledge of his father and when Fugaku finally shown a smidgen of being impressed by his younger son, if only for one bit... his entire family has been killed.

He wondered what kind of things his father was talking about with his mother but this will forever remained a mystery to Sasuke because his parents, similar to the cobblestone graves that he was yet to gain the courage to visit, remained a memory written in the sand and not even pain and tears stood that test of time. After so much time, emotions turned into an endless vacuum.

"I wonder what kind of things was mother and father talking about... When I was not around..." This was one of those rare moments when Sasuke`s tune was soft and airy and lacked malice and that calloused edginess that made him completely arrogant and bitter.

The memory of his family long stopped torturing him and made him grow stiff, nervous and edgy. He could now look at the surrounding and listen patiently to how to memories fluttered like a windmill through every grass blade and every leaf, all rewinding the same memories but without hurting him.

Darkness and pain will never ever succeed in touching his senses and judgement and thus they can harm him no more, no now he was just as seemingly serene as the velvet horizon.

His digits slide under his hakama unwrapping it from his torso as it slide along his arms, tapping soundless on the grass behind him. Sasuke let his heels traipse in a lackluster fluid motion towards the vitreous lake, tapping his toes against the still surface and making it break into multiple torpid ripples vibrating like violin strings under his touch.

Ripples were rolling around his form in slim chains while Sasuke submerged into the water until the cold crystal mirror brushed right under his carved hip bones, deciding that he shall not immerse further.

Gazing into the water that mirrored the diffuse reflection of his ethereal beauty, Sasuke elevated his hands into the air with his palms facing the night sky and head dived into the bottomless darkness, sliding underwater and reaching the surface like a puma, then fluttering his head once as droplets fluttered from his lush raven spikes in silvery twinkles.

"Have I ever… been worthy of being your son... father?" He didn't realize that his thoughts materialized in hushed words as he addressed them to no one in particular and yet to everyone who might listen, knowing that he won't get any answer in return, not now and not never–

"–What is there _not_ to be proud about?" If he has been startled, surprised or annoyed by the unforeseen intrusion Sasuke was an expert at hiding it but his sable orbs slightly narrowed and giving it the tenacious and striking look of a lethal feline betrayed his inner perception over the matter.

"What are you doing here?" His obsidian eyes get a more dangerous glint, but his voice remained suprisingly leather smooth making the contrast between what was churning inside his mind and his gestures even more striking and controlled. "Have you followed me? "

* * *

Technically, Sakura has found him with low difficulty courtesy to the Jutsu lingering brightly around her wrists and they definitely served more than just a decorative purpose and realizing that she too could fructify its attributes just like Sasuke has said –that he could easily find her wherever through their connection, she simply let it illuminate the way to him, finding him in a place at the outskirts of the Village that she didn't know it existed.

A giant lake surrounded by nothing but virgin forest most likely being in the possession of the relocated Uchiha Clan provided a breathtaking scenery and that was the place where she has found her captor seemingly entrapped into one of his reminisces; that or he was meditating but she couldn't be sure because he hasn't moved excessively much from the wooden wharf where he was pinned and gazing in the distance.

Twilight started to bloom around them in the moment he indeed moved from his spot and albeit Sakura was hiding behind the trunk of a fir tree watching his every move, she caught it sound and clear; with a swift tuck on his simple sleeved dark shirt with the Uchiha emblem sewed on the material, Sasuke rolled it over his head and tossed it aimlessly behind him.

He did the same with the rest of his clothes and sandals not making any sound in the process and when the last article of clothing came loose from his firm hips and sliding along his thighs, Sakura felt her cheeks combust as she placed her palms on her flaming face feeling a lump in her throat cut the wind out of her airways.

Stark naked he stood with his back on her traipsing along the wooden wharf and, gracefully like a puma chasing its prey, he head dived into the lake with a short splash, resurfacing moments after –a little bit too long, with much effect, running his hands through his now damp tamed spikes, pulling his head backwards and removing it from his eyes, back still on her.

It would be a blatant lie to say that Sakura didn't find the scene absolutely sensual and incredibly _hot_. She followed in awe as the globules of water were rolling down like crystals along the chiseled planes of Uchiha`s back when he stood up, so that the water was rippling and brushing over his hips and a subtle view of his toned ass, making her knees buckle.

Now Sakura got the confirmation of the fact that Uchiha didn't chase the Chakra Fruit because he didn't go to the Shrine like he threatened he would do and, albeit she was flattered that he took her advice into consideration –maybe even pondering over it, she was glad that he had more common sense than be driven by such juvenile and irrational impulses.

He has been there for the entire time after he left the Uchiha Compound and she has been silently following him ever since, but the mesmerizing effect that this man had over the viewer, captivating anyone with his mere presence had Sakura overlook an important detail; he was _feeling_ her too.

Sasuke knew that she was somewhere close and following him from the distance and as much as the thought of a Priestess ogling him probably because she was entertaining foolish ideas about fighting him was amusing, he pretty much ignored her and kept on collecting his thoughts.

She was already driving him nutty so that was exactly the reason why he made it look like he was oblivious.

Nipping on her lower lip unconsciously, Sakura couldn't help but fall prey to the charms of the lone Uchiha and that distance between them with the raw nature surrounding him creating a shield between Sasuke and the rest of the Village –pretty much serving its initial purpose of keeping the Uchiha at a safe distance, enhanced his raw beauty and added to the untouchable aura.

Scrupulously following every ripple of his frame flexing with the simplest of every meticulous calm gesture, Sakura didn't realize that she was indeed studying and drooling over him.

The cold luscious water droplets dripped from Sasuke`s sable hair and created tiny rivers cascading down the sculpted peaks of his muscled shoulder blades and descending down his spine.

His marble skin collided with the subtle tinges of navy blue and silver reflections playing along his form into the veil of the night, as million twinkling stars were sewed on the sky outlining the silhouette of a water God emerging from the pits of that lake.

He blended so flawlessly and easily into that frozen majestic beauty of the intimate scenery that it was impossible not to stare at him in awe; he was delicious, incandescent and _irresistible._

His gestures were studied, delicate and fine even when entrapped into something so casual as running a hand through his damp hair, but Kami… he was perfect.

So limber and aesthetic in beauty and yet so strong and exuding an irresistible masculinity. His now damp hair lost the peculiar messy style and only gave him a nobler and more mature touch as it brushed along his nape.

Sakura shook her head energetically in vain trying to get a hold of herself and not do something so preposterous and indecent as watching a nude man lave into the waters at night, but the burning in her rosy cheeks betrayed what her heart was feeling; the inner clock within her ticked with unmatched frenzy and its pendulum swings pendulated energetically like infinity was rushing to get somewhere and time run out of _time._

"Oh my God, what am I doing–" It was in the moment Sasuke completed the hand signs of the Fire Style Jutsu and kindled a giant sphere sending it whirling in the flames of Uchiha`s most famous signature technique across the lake illuminating the dormant scenery like a torch, has she returned her gaze on him.

Putting aside the force of his stupendous Fire Jutsu, Sakura has been hypnotized by the things that left his mouth and the tone in his voice; so melancholic and reflective and yet so emotional and even if they came as a gentle wind, she heard them sound and clear –or maybe it was because of the connection between them through the outré restraining Jutsu.

And his question addressed to the memory of his beloved father which will never get a response back made her jeopardize her location and before she could ponder about her actions, Sakura found herself responding to him, padding to the lake and approaching Sasuke.

Said man didn't even seemed to be bothered by his nudity in her presence in the bit; and even if for any other normal person his naked form would have made him mentally vulnerable, it was not the case with Sasuke.

He stood in all his splendid glory with his back on her, his hands dangling casually on his side and only his profile turned to her, onyx eyes blazing and burning the depths of her Granny Smith apple ones, making the distance between them melt instantaneously under his calescent gaze.

He didn't eve seem angry or bothered by the fact that she followed him, no, he looked absolutely not surprised like he knew beforehand that she will follow him.

Gulping once subtly to alleviate the knot within her throat and the uncomfortable fidgety swarm inside her belly and keeping her gaze –as much as she was forcing herself to, straight into Sasuke`s ones out of elegance and courtesy so as not to shamefully invade his privacy with her rude stare, she murmured.

"Well... technically I was traipsing nearby to get familiar to the forest and listen to the tree's story, " He had absolutely no expression playing on his mien while listening to the absurdities rolling out of her tongue with such a frightening pathos while she lost herself in a bright smile beaming to him. "…and then I have seen you approaching this lake and ended up unconsciously –ahm– following you. "

He didn't even glimmer to her when demanding in his dark chocolate inflection that sent shivers along the night making ripples into the water. "Why?"

She pouted in what could be limned as sweet and cute as her mimics made her look ten years younger and more angelic while her jade diamonds bore into his onyx ones holding his gaze for a very tensed build up, then chirruped like the crickets fluctuating around them.

"Because I couldn't let you get close to the Shrine and also… because I was curious about what would you think about when you think that no one is watching you."

Sasuke couldn't help himself but quirk a fine raven eyebrow up not expecting her fortnight reply and nor the puzzling wisdom behind her words.

And the way she said it in such a natural and poetic way made him clasp his digits into a tight ball. On the inside he was boiling and bristling trying to cease away a perturbed feeling welling inside his chest –one that he didn't recognize, when on the outside his handsome but stern and laconic features portrayed _nothing_.

"You shouldn't be so carefree with your words... _Priestess_ ," Her comical pout fell into a semi frown that wasn't typical on her face like not belonging to her pure image. "it might cost you _more_ than just life."

What he meant by that Sakura had no idea but somehow, the more threats he was sprinkling on her counscience, the more curious she got about his motives, impulses and inner thoughts. "So? What were you reminiscing about being so absorbed?"

Sakura took a step to him trying hard not to let her orbs detour to his chiseled carcass that was glistening like marble of a submerged forgotten Greek temple, holding his intense stare instead since it was the safest option.

Hasuke didn't flinch one smidgen to turn to her, keeping his back still on the approaching priestess while only his profile was half turned to her.

Onyx orbs narrowed dangerously to her in a peculiar signal that she was transgression a border that she shouldn't. Of course he didn't answer to her inquiry simply staring and studying her like a sylph creature emerging from the forest seemingly cautious and more reserved around her.

He want obliged to make conversation with this woman, she was already too deep into his business. "You were talking to yourself, so this means that you are indeed lonely."

"Don't you dare come closer..." His threat came as a deep laceration and it took everything in her not to shudder visibly and shy away from him.

Instead, the emerald eyed Priestess kept on making the distance between them dissipate as her toes tapped the water and she shrieked and flinched at how icy the water felt and yet Sasuke simply dived inside, not making any single gesture that he felt cold nor that it slayed his skin like a blade; it was amazing how loneliness felt so natural to him.

"You cannot stop me. This is a free world." She stuck her tongue halfway outside her rosy mouth to him like a little naughty cherub playing in Paradise while probing the temperature of the water with the tip of her toe. Sasuke knew that her note held more insight than simply temperature remark. "Oh! It is very cold. Too cold for this period of the year..."

He did it on pure impulse which was uncharacteristically to someone as diligent and composed as Sasuke but this woman was always making him display feats that were out of character.

He focused his Chakra on the Jutsu glowing around her wrists looking in abnormal panic how she was slowly letting her diaphanous shadow graze the water as she slowly got inside.

The bell musical laughter resonating from her quivering lips reminded Sasuke that his technique wasn't working on this woman. "Hahaha, stop that, it tickles!"

Sakura embraced her tummy with her hands that were sliding firm the elegant kimono, squeezing her glossy orbs shut as the tingles warmed her insides in contrast to the cold freezing water.

Ungracefully Uchiha promptly rolled his sapphire onyx orbs until they hit the exasperation churning into his mind. Unbelievably, even when he wanted to hurt her –if only a little and not case her any serious damage, he ended up making feel the opposite.

What the heck? This was... Kami-Sama punishing him for his sins; he imprisoned a Priestess and she ended up annoying the heck out of him around the clock; and the worst thing was that no matter how bad he forced himself to, he couldn't truly kill this woman which was ridiculous.

"You are so goddammit annoying." The last Uchiha watched the Priestess slide into the water like a dragonfly with crystal wings landing on a lotus flower, so elegant and so suave, as the fine material of the clothes she was dotted in rippled afloat around her form.

Albeit she wore a simple dark grey yukata around her form, only her could make such an unsophisticated look appear so elegant and so unique.

Her grace was on par with a snowflake`s elegance brushing over the water as she indeed let her form submerge, barely making any ripples upon the glossy surface and her form was mirroring into the lake in a slender blurred image molding with his own shadow.

The lucent of the gold and silvery dusty traces of the Milky Way were reflecting into the water and enhanced the nacre of her skin. She was glowing like an angel in Paradise.

"I know. You keep on repeating it with so much conviction that I can`t but completely _trust_ you." Sakura sang to him like she was not bothered by the fact that he blatantly insulted her.

The reason why she didn't feel offended was because she learned something valuable about Uchiha Sasuke; he was only giving apparently insulting names to the people he held _dearly_ , for example, the energetic blonde friend of his, the knucklehead.

Meanwhile, the Uchiha simply stared at her in complete silence, following how her comical shenanigans blended in the entire range of cute pouts, grimaces of her mimics and facial gestures were making her look so young, so attractive and gave her a peculiar charms.

Something about her mannerism… something about this Priestess was making it impossible to stop looking her way and Sasuke didn't find what exactly.

Maybe it was because she was so sincere as her heart was shining brightly in opposition to how a ninja would always keep it secluded and deceiving, or her unpredictability.

The cloth wrapped around her form got soaked and stuck to her as she came closer to him, until the water rippled past her ribs due to the difference in height, stopping close to him but still keeping a decent distance so as not to make him uncomfortable.

"I thought you would dash to the Shrine. Why are you here alone? You have spent the entire evening here. Not that it is not beautiful or something…"

She finished dreamy taking a quick glance around to contemplate the nature`s finest creation and revel into its intangible beauty, then her jadeite eyes found his again, in that way that was getting familiar, expecting a response.

"I am not obliged to answer to you." Indeed, Sasuke wasn't stupid. Of course that he won't be blitzing to the Shrine and ravage it like an original loser of a regular thief.

There must be some truth into the Priestess` warning and he wanted to first dig into the problem before doing something that would bring him more trouble than benefits.

But he couldn't go back home either, knowing that _she_ was there. Yes, he has been harsh with her but he won't ever apologize; good thing that Sakura had enough common sense not to lament like Karin or the others and try to force him to act out of character.

It was like she was the one trying do adapt to his personality rather than being reproachful that he was a heartless bastard, accepting him with open arms like he was and not trying to change him.

She merely nodded to him feeling her entire body being washed by the freezing temperature of the water and honestly Sakura had no idea of what made her approach Sasuke and even dive into the water after him, but somehow… seeing him there and looking so lonely and succumbing willingly into whatever thoughts were crossing his mind has made her want to be someone to split his pain in half, even if it was to simply be there for him as he was still clinging stubbornly to the darkness.

But one grave mistake from Sakura`s part was to dare a glimpse to his stripped body as soon as she decided that she wouldn't go past there because the bottom of the lake dropped significantly and any other step would probably make the water come to her chest.

Unable to voice out anything coherent or intelligent,Sakura simply let her orbs flicker to Sasuke`s face and it would have been wise not to look at his mien while being so close to his bare form because _God_ … that man was even better looking now that she was close to him than when she saw him from the distance. He was almost... _ridiculously_ gorgeous.

Now Sakura was hardly one superficial girl or the type of woman to lust lust after handsome faces and pretty boys, but Uchiha Sasuke was much more than the aforementioned categories; he was on a league of his own and putting his painfully gorgeous looks aside, it was his charisma and mysterious dark aura surrounding him the things that drowned her entirely and cut the air supply off her airways, albeit she was not entirely submerged into the waters but she still found it hard to breathe and swallow.

For a moment, the coldness enveloping her because of the icy water which was slowly paralyzing her skin has been forgotten, in the moment when something _stronger_ than the weather conditions churned inside her.

She felt it percolating along her entire form, sizzling within the nest of her chest and imploring to be liberated from its hinges; there was a concoction of convoluted sentiments sewed in a pandemonium and brimming through her mind. Every ghost of perception around her twisted and distorted.

She wanted to much to run a hand along those planes of Sasuke`s chiseled back and feel the calescent radiance of his iron sculpted body under her curious fingertips; a burning desire to simply feel him as a man and not as a shinobi grew feral into her and for a moment, Sakura was at loss of what to do, simply freezing under his caress in the moment the swift Uchiha coiled his fingers around her wrists in a suave touch, just under the purple afterglow of his Jutsu and his elegance in contrast to his earlier behavior even stunned him but everything about that was on pure reflex.

He wasn`t giving it much thought about the course of action or his gestures.

Somehow that purple grape radiance got more incandescent and vibrant in the owner`s presence as if it was a living creature with a soul borrowing a part of him and following her wherever they went, just like he promised.

 _What was that outreach tension_? There as an esoteric tinge lingering between them; something sparkling and magnetized transpired in the short distance of their forms; everything has been enhanced and Sakura could hear everything, feel the intensity of the moment in every sharp inhale, she felt her racing heart pound like the resonating swings of a pendulum keeping that moment suspended on its limbs, it was pounding into her eardrums and fogging her eyes and yet, she had never been anymore _alert_ than now.

She felt this way before when she meditated and prayed, and so reaching that catatonia state about the outside perception, becoming high alert of the lightest tremble of a leaf carried by the wind or the most dainty fluttering of a dragonfly`s flight, but this time she wasn't entering that blissful reverie through her own mind's transcendental meditation, no this time, they were all coming so natural, so elegant and hypnotizing by Sasuke's presence alone, and it was ensorcelling and enveloped her in a sensation that was growing more electrifying and sweet with every passing moment.

Something flickered in Sasuke`s mannerism and, for some bizarre reason, the hostility, revolt, inner turmoil and rejection of everything that had to do with her presence, the concept, the symbol of peace and liberation drifted to something deeper, more serene because she clearly felt this ebony haired Uchiha relax if only for a bit; the tension and acrimony that swiveled so acerbic into the depths of his nebulous orbs, were shining now with other afterglow.

They never lost their intensity for those black sapphire facades of his irises still gleamed silvery-obsidian and the lucent of the delicately illuminated stars mirrored into the water around and enhanced that sublime beauty and power, but now those breathakingly beautiful black eyes looked like her in another way, one that she couldn't place but it made her entire being shiver in tickling electric waves rippling along her spine and limbs and lodging into the pits of her belly, like tight knots.

Something about this new electricity between them aroused new reactions and impulses into Sakurar, ones that have never been conjured and before she could realize what she wanted to do, Sakura let her hands slowly stretch and seemingly attempt to reach him and the most shocking thing was that the motion was so lurking, so fitting into the context and so imperceptible, that she encountered _no_ restraint from the Uchiha himself.

No, Sasuke kept his hands absolutely motionless while Sakura's arms were gliding through his long digits that were curled around her limbs, feeling the silkiness of his fingertips smooth along her skin while she let her spread palms brush his chest delicately.

A lump formed into her throat while her mouth went dry when she felt the tiny contact with his body for he was so warm and chiseled and she didn't stop.

Ironically enough, Sasuke knew what she was thinking about, easily reading everything on her jade orbs and on her body language; it was similar to what any other woman wanted from him but at the same time... it was _not_.

Her palms tapped against the planes of his sculpted pectorals while her right palm could feel his heartbeats pumping frenetically under her fingertips like a Swiss clock trying to win the race with the time.

Sakura couldn't stand that new sensation that coursed through her in a whirling sensation of a hurricane being unleashed from its hinges, so she brushed the tip of her tongue along the heart shaped contour of her lips and closed her eyes, eschewing from those bottomless obsidian hues that seemed to undress her and _burn_ her mind.

She didn't want to see his reaction at her rather forward movement; just _feeling_ him was simply too much and too delicious and more than she could get.

His heart was thumping like the vibrations of a Latino song resonating from the strings of a spanish Jazz guitar and she honestly didn't know the reason why his heart was beating with that frenzy, but Sakura definitely knew that it mirrored her own cadence.

Sasuke`s unhurried hands slid sensually in a tickling torpid motion brushing along her own, coming to cup her elbows and just feeling a ghost of a touch –his touch– on her bare skin felt divine.

Even the water around suddenly felt like a multitude of boiling bubbles similar to the steamy waters of an onsen even though they submerged in a cold freezing lake during the night, with only their bodies to grant a little of warmth, but the perception was definitely distorted and sizzling hot.

What was happening, what in the world was _he_ doing?

Why was he allowing things to divert to something like this, why was he allowing _her_ the privilege of such intimate gestures, what was with all those labyrinthine things that churned into his mind?

Why couldn't he let go, why was it the hardest task to simply pry her hands off his person or break the lock between their stares, but more importantly why did he continued to smooth along the length of her princess hands slowly, sensually like playing the golden strings of a harp? The tremors of her skin upon the contact created the most entralling melody.

Why couldn't he be anything in her presence but gentle, graceful, delicate and alluring, with a finesse that he did not want to expose to her, _why_?

Sasuke's mind was going crazy with all those unspoken questions, fragments of his lost conscience that reflected the broken mirror of his soul came back to reflect what he couldn't scream. He couldn't be harsh, ruthless, barbaric and calloused with this priestess, he simply couldn't.

And it was not because he was giving a flying damn about the fact that she was a Priestess or not because he couldn't care less, but as a _woman_ he viewed her as a snowflake fluttering on his warm palm in a frozen December melting against his skin; she was so fragile, breakable like a glass doll, like a crystal utterly without wings being at his mercy and... He couldn't break her.

He couldn't break those wings.

Words that refused to roll out of his mind stood trapped across his fine-grained lips that were half parted and he yenned, _begged_ and fought for them to shout at her to get off, stop touching him and vanish from his life but there was nothing coming out except for his sharp inhales.

Sasuke`s fine hands now rested atop of her much smaller ones curling around Sakura`s digits and he truly tried to unglue them off his own, but instead, he found himself only gliden their entwined hands down his chest as her palms traipsed along his scorching torso, passing all the sharp edges and flexed muscles until they landed on his carved abs, stopping there on the fibers that were as cut as a rough diamond.

This was madness, it was crazy and definitely not what he had in mind when he made her his prisoner. Heck not even a _concubine_ would be treated like this normally.

Oh Kami, the way her knees were woobling as her entire skin was tettering because of all those smothered feelings she had for him now coming unhinged from their vault to overflow throuhg her system, materializing in million pleasurable tickles and tremors washing along her column when Sasuke started to caress her arms and it was pure madness!

His lean spine took a sensual curve between his shoulder blades where it was framed by carved long muscles flexing and enhancing the ample ridges; he exuded an irresistible virility, he was so toned, so splendid and extremely masculine.

Sakura`s heart threatened to explode like a meteorite in billion fireworks but curiously, the more it thumped into her chest, the more she wanted to shift closer to him; it was an interesting feeling that she had because even though her behavior compelled something forbidden, at the same time she was not in imminent danger because she was Sasuke`s prisoner and he was his captor and also the one she was engaged into such a newfound affectionate intimacy with and thus as long as Uchiha was allowing her to caress him so fondly and feel his body ripple under his touch, everything felt so _natural_ , so simple and organic and yet so beautiful.

The coral haired Priestess was both paralyzed in fear and sheer demure curiosity. She wanted to do something to quench the bonfire kindled inside the pits of her belly and the clench of her innards but she didn't know the hidden code of that secret language of desire. The paws of her fingertips grazed along the crests of Sasuke` fine cut abdomen.

Her throat went dry like she has been wandering aimlessly through the scorching desert for days without feeling any drops of water into her mouth, feeling his muscles flex and tauten under her touch and exuding a coalescing radiance which only stirred the fire in her belly and the flutter in her heart to reach its paramount.

His body was superb sculpted just like the rest of him; Sasuke was oozing such a magnetic virility but at the same time nothing about him was grotesque or exaggerated, no, he was so lean and slender and really tall and proud, without losing that implacable touch of regal noblesse.

Those washboard fibers were twining into a deep range of pyramids and peaks, and she couldn't help but slowly deliberately skim her digits along each of them, memorizing, feeling the raw power and fascination for a spendid _man_ summon feelings inside her that she knew latent until then, digits and nails pressing and tracing every delineation and delicate crest, every muscles of those delicious eight packs dotting his abdomen, and with every press of her fingers along his body, her breathes turned into broken rhythm of a sensual melody.

Sasuke went absolutely silent as she was openly exploring the beauty of his nudity with a touch softer than silk organza. No word, no muffled sounds or sarcastic comebacks rolled out of his mouth, not even a bristling remark, nothing. Nothing except for his own ragged inhales which were all a frantic cadence evoked by the hotness of Sakura`s touch.

Why was he being so lenient and silent he had absolutely no idea; thinking became a pressing challenge when her palms glissaded lower across his abdomen where the waistband of his sculpted physique met into the form of two definite triangles as water dotted his hips and nearly exposed his lower abdomen to her vitreous orbs, tantalizing her view with his masculine beauty.

Just like Sakura 's haywire sensations metamorphosed into an indefinite synesthesia, Sasuke too felt the icy water around bubbling hotter and electrically charged like it wasn't even liquid anymore but some sort of foam or fog.

Obsidian orbs turned crystal glass with arousal gleaming brighter than the lucent of the water's surface, and he couldn't help himself but _respond_ to her silent beguilling invitation.

His hands, albeit so lethal and skilled with weapons and proficient with waving hand seals that were as sublime as they were mortal, hands that were used to take lives, to impale and to stain with his enemies` blood now spanned from her forearms to the curve of her shoulders and skimmed sensually along the column of her collar bones, to cup the sides of her face and frame her jaw with his thumb as his burning fingertips skimmed along the contours of her swan neck.

A broken inhale being trapped midway her throat echoed through the monumental silence upon Sasuke`s unforseen caress; there was no sound that Sakura could hear anymore except for their dissaray breaths and the thump of their heart ticks reverberating through their touching palms and eardrums.

Sasuke`s fingertips filled every pore of her visage with warm pleasurable tingles as they skimmed along her jawline, slowly almost _too_ tenderly, affectionately like memorizing the map of her contours, loving and fondling and Sakura didn't like how he made her feel, because now she was being granted the taste of the most seductive _sin_ proving it to her that his spell was too irresistible and meant to seduce her.

But at the same time, the confused Priestess couldn't stop half shutting her emerald orbs at the newfound sensation. Sasuke`s frame felt so good under her touch, so beautiful and delicious and his touch along the peak of her cheeks, brushing his thumb right under her eyes like beckoning her to look up into his own sapphire pools was something that she didn't have a name for but the sensations coursing along her entire system touched her physically and threw him amidst a whirlpool of sensations; she felt the attraction for his irresistible touch through every pore.

Sakura`s palms grazed around Sasuke`s sculpted belt of his waistband line and then boldly took a sojourn along the long ample cords of his back muscles, then taking a sharp detour down on his lower back, sliding up to the pillar of his lean spine.

The fact that he was so lithe and yet so incredibly defined and sculpted made her darkest desired blaze to life and their affectionate intimacy even more appealing becuase she could easily encompass his form with her hnds into a loving ardent embrace.

Sakura couldn't get a grip of her ration anymore when her hands felt latched to invisible threads glued to her fingertips and guiding her every gesture following the rhythm of her inner music. She left her palms span boldly upon his sculpted shoulder blades as her own body shifted closer to him almost and tapping their chests.

She felt his lustrous alabaster fibers tense under her touch when she took an unforseen detour to fondle sweet spots along his torso that she hasn`t stroke before, then immediately relax like not perceiving any maleficent intent form her.

He probably had trust issues when it came to falling prey to that deep conectedness with someone, since he was a rogue shinobi haunted down the other Villages' Anbu troops so she couldn't put it past him not to be accustomed to such closeness and intimacy, but at the same time every single stroke, his gestures, the way her body naturally responded to him felt so _right_ , so organic, so beautiful and poetic like she was meant to be _his_ and thus her own body reacted to him instantly without feeling any reticence, only a subtle tint of shyness coming from her.

' _This is all hormones, this is all about physical needs, urges that need to be taken care of like hunger and thirst, nothing more and nothing less, I don't care about this!'_ Sasuke`s mind was desperately trying to build up the walls between his heart that was slowly being demolished and conquered like a crumblig fortress, and the radiant light spilling from the hole into his wall blinded his eyes.

"I warned you before Priestess," His voice was no higher than an alto piano key making her skin tremble in delight at its sensual rich resonance. "about _falling_ for me."

Sakura nearly missed the depths of his words being deafened and blinded by everything that was happening around them and that was the reason why confusion, clumsiness and that sweet induced state of oblivion made her murmur in reply to his memento.

"Why?" Sakura softly challenged as she was all too familiar with his previous words, albeit she didn't perceived them as an immediate serious threat, like he was trying to convince himself about their resonance more than he was trying to convince her and warn her about something that was forbidden and she should never transgress.

"...Because there is absolutely _nothing_ there. I am an empty man." Something... A fugitive oscillation washed over _those_ eyes, percolating into the depths of those bottomless orbs of his, something that sliced through Sakura`s chest like the honed blade of his katana; so cold, so broken and lost within the abyss of a breathless solitude, it was freezing and suddenly she found herself trembling and whether it was because of the coldness in his stare or the implacable words that pushed her away and built an invisible wall between them she wouldn't know, but suddenly his suave and elegant touch... was not _warm_ anymore.

Sasuke was caressing her in a fainéant irresistible manner; those digits were wrapped around her lower back and shoulders and yet... he was so far away, there was such a limitless distance spannin between the two of them and he was so deeply submerged into an endless ocean which was so far out of _her_ reach and it felt like... a lone glimmering tear sprinkled along the curve of her cheek, distant and cold like an icicle and it moistened the corner of her lips.

Those _eyes._.. She wanted out of the clutches of that suffocating iciness, out of there, out of that tears which spoke like million unvoiced missives and out of his stare; it was more than heartbreaking, it was tearing and wrecking her heart to see Sasuke identify himself with a seagull missing its way to the azure, crushing with a broken wing to the sand where the last foamy wave of the sea brushed away the memory of _him_ from _her_ mind.

He was embodied as more lifeless and distant just like the Uchiha district, just like his home, listless and without anything to kindle those latent coals. Nothing but an immeasurable solitude.

Something shone within her green apple orbs, something like a pale flickering of a forgotten candle shimmering with its last scintillating ray of light and mirrored into its obsidian irises; orbs that narrowed ever so slightly not understanding where was that unexpected determination coming from. And then they both have been struck by the same fugitive memento.

Mikoto`s wedding ring.

A ring; the promise of an eternity carved in gold and inestimable diamonds, the symbol of a never-ending love has gleamed into her memories and with a newfound audacity and determination, Sakura wrapped her hands around his torso hugged him tighter digging the crescent moons of her polished nails into the crests of his sculpted shoulders, her entire aura glowing brighter than firefly's luminous gleam in his flight.

She shook her head whispering vehemently against his harsh words about himself. "N-no," Sakura protested while her warm porcelain cheek was brushing along his skin sending shivers along his spine and limbs, making it tremble like the resonance of her burning words. "you are _not_ alone anymore. You never were," Because his friends never abandoned him and stayed with him until the end and plus… she licked her lips blushing slightly at the ghost of her confession but she was genuine. "You were never alone because _I_ was always there waiting... I _am_ here for..."

 _For you._

Her _eyes_... The hypnotic cherry blossom dance of petals, that feminine irresistible pure play of flowers was deceiving and made something inside Sasuke`s chest go weaker; an Uchiha must never know of such weakness, that was a derisive concept, a shame within the clan, within his... family of elites. A haunting curse traveling through space and time and transmigrating into the last of their heir.

He needed someone who will accept him unconditionally, someone like him who will accept him entirely and never try to change who he was, someone like Sakura whose love and feelings will embody the seductive feelings of acceptance and _forgiveness_. She will never try to judge him for his turbulent feelings and that endless darkness but will always stay beside him, waiting for him, holding his hand and leading his evey step to the light.

"Don't ever compare yourself to me," His voice went more emotional and less cold, graceful and calculated. "You are nothing like me, someone so hopelessly living trapped into an utopic fantasy bubble will never understand it."

"I am someone like you, someone who hopes, someone who dreams..." Someone who is lonely and just when in the presence of another the loneliness starts to hurt more and becomes unbearable, those were all words that she failed to voice out loud along with the tint of her sizling romantic confession from earlier, but albeit they have never left the realm of her lips, Sasuke knew exactly what she meant to convey to him.

"Here," Softly Sakura took his hand into her own and guided their laced palms upon her heart; she shocked him at how fast it was pounding, so frenetic like it grow a pair angel wings and attempted to fly high into the sky." You have no idea how much it..." She wanted to say _hurts_ but judging from her unmistakable lucent in her eyes comprising million unspoken words and the notion of those feelings encompassing her golden viridian irises, Uchiha knew what she failed to convey to him throuh words, but her heart fell into a desperate plea.

He harshly tore his hand from under hers like she burned him, like he hurt himself by hearing that she was hurt giving her one of the most hyperborean stares, turning around and submerging into the wintry water until he completely vanished from her sight, just to come out two seconds later, shattering the glass of the water like a Yemen horse, fluttering his head once and running a hand through his lush raven hair that stuck to his nape, losing the signature rebel spikes, as the planes of his sinewy back unfolded splendidly like a black puma's leap before her eyes.

"You say that I don't understand you," She gulped once to alleviating the tight lump that his Arctic stare has summoned into the back of her throat and let her shadow rifle along the water expanding to him as she too immersed into the freezing lake without caring about the extreme coldness and approached him once again; Sasuke perceived the ripples that her form sent to him as the water vibrated around them but didn't move.

"then help me understand. I want to know everything," Once again Sasuke didn't flinch when she boldly enveloped her hands around his narrow waist and locked them around his form in a meaningful poetic embrace, pressing her cheek moist porcelain cheek between his sculpted shoulder blades, whispering upon his wet cold skin as droplets of icy water seeped on her shoulders and her forehead. "about this endless darkness of yours."

"Go," Sasuke`s voice sounded strangled by his own smothered feelings, so distant, so soft, so much like a detached whisper like it wasn't even addressed to her. She will never know that his obsidian orbs were squeezed tight and his jaw clenched until his maxillaries popped. "go _away_ and leave me the heck alone."

In return to his almost desperate rejection, Sakura only hugged him tighter feeling him suddenly tense in response to her genuine affectionate gesture. "No," Sakura brushed her cheek against his silky alabaster warm skin as she shook her head to him in evident protest. "no because you don't really _mean_ it."

* * *

That breathing whisper of hers coming from her quivering lips triggered something into him for Sasuke spun around totally startling Sakura who didn't expect him to be so fast like water did nothing to slow him in the bit, and pressed her shoulders roughly down to force her under the water, keeping her there like his intention was evident to attempt to drown her right on the spot.

Sakura trashed violently and tried to swam back to the surface not even having the time to take a generous gulp of oxygen, but it was all in vain to try and break Sasuke's hold which was iron on her petite form and enhanced by that nebula that he was rambling about.

 _He can do this whenever he wants_ , Sasuke kept on chanting me tally, he could kill her now without any pang of remorse, he could wait patiently for five minutes for her lungs to fill with water and die by his hand and absolutely nobody but her spirit and his own guilty counscience would know. He just had to be himself and do something that he did so frequently –kill in cold blood.

He could be cold and ruthless, this wasebbed in his nature, the inner self that was molded by the society, this was the monster of darkness that he has became and he will _not_ regret it, just like she has challenged him.

In the silence of the pitch twilight outside with the sole source of light being the starlight night sky without a moon, the intent to kill and the thirst for blood and loss of the life of such pure girl felt like the desperate plea and sorrow of the nature itself begging him not to smear his hands with the blood of that innocent angel.

He just had to ignore everything, starting with her trashing form that was splashing droplets with her palms into his face, the elements of the nature around mourning for the pure swan, her loving words, her haunting memory, her skin caressing his own, her soft voice, the tenderness of her touch, the affectionate kinetics, the golden crown in her eyes, she was a chimera.

His palms slid under her armpits and effortlessly like she was a fluttering fur floating on the surface, Sasuke hauled the Priestess from the clutches of the icy water in the moment when those shimmering eyes came ricocheted back into his mind, so vivid and iridescent and vibrant, pulling her out of the water, just when her deprived of air mind started to drift off and shut down.

Sakura nearly went limp into his arms quickly tiring to fight back both the lack of oxygen and his murder intent in vain, in the moment when Sasuke decided to stop himself on time.

He can't do that, he really _can't_ kill her. Curse her for everything that she was but he couldn't drown the pink haired Priestess into the lake and murder her.

When Sasuke pulled her out of the water, she looked so lifeless compared to how the luminous rays inside her angelic form shimmered in untouched purity and exuberance, with her glossy lips turning an angry cold color of purple grapes looking like the soul which infused her vibrant energy around her jolly form has been tore from her carcass, that it caused something to clasp around his heart violently, almost like he was scared that something bad might happen to her and he will _lose_ her forever.

Glossy emerald orbs fluttered open as Sakura gasped aloud and coughed hard when her airways got in touch with the much needed oxygen and moved her hands in a dissaray motion nearly poking him in the eye, but Sasuke kept her steady with a gentle but firm hold under her arms, and raised her as high as possible above the water clearly showing her that he wouldn't attempt something like this again.

For the first time since he met her, _fear_ was sizzling into her horrifyied orbs. Emerald orbs that shone brighter than anything else even more than the stars above were now filled with apprehension and _disappointment_. The Priestess was so disenchanted by his attitude and it almost stole his own breath away at the look she gave him.

Sasuke let her inhale a few times and regulate her breaths, cough and take the oxygen that she needed as some tears amalgamated with the crystaline droplets of water percolating from the luscious blades of her coral hair, simply staring down at her without voicing anything. And the first words that she weakly breathed to him so submissive and genuine nearly made him drop her involuntarily into the water again.

"Kill me _Sasuke_. If this will make you feel liberated... if my _death_ will emancipate you from the demons that torture you and haunt you... then kill me now with your bare hands. Take my life... and don't _regret_ it."

* * *

He did kill her however in the next moment when his luscious lips glissaded along her unprepared ones, pulling her into a _kiss_ so passionate that almost had Sakura wooble backwards and sink into the icy water, but this time, it was because her knees jitterred like Christmas bells and tingles run along her spine making her shiver in pure delight.

His hands coiled posessively around her shoulders, cupping her in an ardent tight embrace like he was fighting for her with an invisible force –a projection of his own cognizance, that might submerge her into the water again and take her away from him, and crushed her flush into his wet chiseled chest.

Sasuke`s lips against her luscious ones were frenetic, possessive, lupine and almost desperate, hot and almost apologetic, like he was using his last resort to convey something that words couldn't encompass but it left her reeling in a catatonia so sweet and so warm that she melt into his arms literarily, powerless to fight him back.

She couldn't comprehend this abnormal bipolar behavior, she knew that he was negating his feelings so that he won't lose the touch with the ground that she deemed as steady, she knew that he tried to be what the spirit of the Uchiha's Creed forced him to be –strong and unfaltering, she knew about the immeasurable darkness, the loneliness, she felt it and tasted it but... She couldn't understand the source of it.

One minute ago Sasuke has tried to kill her for real; she was so scared that she will drown into the water while being so close to pass away from the lack of oxygen, and that fear was too late to penetrate her mind, but somehow... something inside her, a tiny voice that didn't belong to her but came from within her chest assured her that Sasuke _didn't_ have the power to kill her.

And he did not take her life. He clearly attempted to murder her but he didn't. He stopped for a reason because Uchiha wasn't insane so she wouldn't put it past dementia or hysteria his outburst so consequently he didn't do anything on impulse or on a whim.

Instead, Sasuke chose to _kiss_ her and not just any type of peck or a simple chaste brush against lips, no, this kiss was feverous, _hot_ and delicious, hungry and dominating demanding reciprocation, attention and understanding.

The Uchiha`s lips cupped her lavish honey mouth in deep hard strokes pressing onto her lips and greedily breaking every savory barriers between them, suckling her mouth with unbind lush and genuine pleasure with rapid wet ample strokes of his own moist lips.

Sakura could only gasp into his intense kiss and don't necessarily because of the touch of his mouth nipping on her own alone, but also because it sent her body into a mind blowing convolution of fire and electricity, transuding from the pits of her belly and percolating throuhg every iota of her intoxicated body.

Sasuke's kiss resembled nothing that Sakura has ever experienced so far, not with Sasuke and not with anyone else before, and nothing in the entire Universe could even begin to have earmarks of that seal of their lips.

The unparalleled lavish aftertaste of lush cognac, pepper and mint chocolate infusied with a subtle tinge of leather adding to a spicy bittersweet aroma that she couldn't place being peculiar to him and _him_ only, has pillaged her mind and soul like a hurricane washing away any form of resistance; she went flaccid into his sturdy arms while Sasuke kept on taking in more of her romantic sweet taste, savoring and suspiring for the unmistakable bouquet of cherries and honey, insatiable.

Taking full advantage of her wide open mouth which reflected the mixture of shock and pleasure, Sasuke has glistened his tongue within the cavern of her mouth, deepening their kiss while their profiles molded into one single figure, dominating her completely.

"Mmnn–" Sakura couldn't help herself but pine for that undescribable feeling conjured by Sasuke; an extremely erotic rich bemoan traveled through their kiss as his slick abrasive tongue rolled over her own and ventured as far as desire, lust and thirst will urge him to explore, and he wanted everything that she had to offer clearly not being reticent or laid aback while kissing her with the signature verocity and rapaceous thirst of a lion cornering its prey.

His sweet moist organ was everywhere it could span inside her soft hot cavern, claiming, tasting and memorizing every corner, sliding over the row of pearl teeth and then tickling the arcade of her mouth to leap down her throat, filling her completely and letting her feel his sweet spicy taste and his warmth through that steaming humid French kiss. Somehow, their current lip lock reminded Sakura of the lavish taste of a fruity exotic coktail.

Uchiha Sasuke`s idiosyncratic aroma tasted absolutely _delicious_ and Sakura simply couldn't hold back her desire for him no matter how much self-control and discipline she had, simply because something in the way Sasuke's calculated elegant moves turned sloppy and clumsily than normal kindled the bonfire between them like gasoline and plaied the perfect catalyst for a steamy experience, turning the chemistry between them into an unmatched symbiosis of _elements_.

Sasuke`s roaring fire and her versatille gentle wind collided in perfect synergy and a myriad of emotions unbind from their chests and minds. Rapid tremors and hot shivers were traversing along Sakura`s limbs and the column of her spine residing into her lower back and the pits of her abdomen, creating a mini replica of a supernova amassing energy inside and threatening to explode any minute by now.

His lips were dancing upon her own in sheer rapture and ferocity which naturally came undone from the seclusion of his mind and _heart_ , his tongue was complementing his maddening upbeat pace; Sakura felt the pressure of his mouth upon her lush lips, nipping and sacking, massaging and pulling on them with passion and pleasure somehow stealing every moan and every ration that swayed along the short breaths which failed to remain trapped into her lungs.

This was another way of drowning her, but unlike the cruel waters before, his kiss almost submerged her entirely while _oxygen_ into Sasuke's intense kiss felt unnecessarily. Uchiha was breathing life into her and

She could breathe without air, even though her chest burned; and before her mind had the opportunity to voice out loud its disagreement over her action, Sakura found herself craving to _reciprocate_ and connect to him at the spiritual level of feelings, silently letting him show throuhg her own caresses and fondlings that she was someone who not only had the ability to understand and accept him, but also genuinely _love_ him for whatever he chose to be without trying to manipulate him and that type of devotion and adoration was paralleled to Itachi`s brotherly bond and Naruto`s commitment, of course not including the romantic feelings which she started to nurture inside for him.

Sakura had no idea of what type of impulse traversed Sasuke`s mind and stir the resolution kiss her, but after the tinge of shock has been subdued and pleasure took over her berserk senses, she came to realize that the lips he was claiming were _her_ lips so consequently she has been granted the right to move along.

The feelings that came unhinged from their casket when she slowly started to reposnd and kiss him back, bunglingly trying to cup his lower lip into her pinkish bruised ones, felt like floating though an electromagnetic storm, because the way everything enhanced around her and inside her couldn't be terrestrial. His taste was too divine to be true.

The palms that were lingering awkwardly between their flush chests now dug into his biceps and then slid upwards to enfold around his nape, brushing past his wet hair and this action successfully made the distance between them melt into that passionate kiss.

It was an impossible task to fall into a lulling rhythm with Sasuke who was savoring her with tongue, teeth and lips as deep and hard as he could physically go, refusing to treat her like the crystal breakable doll she was, tightening his greedy hold around her form while she let her fingers ransack through his hair.

A suppressed moan reverberated through their skin when Sakura`s lips brushed past the tip of Sasuke`s moist tongue, tasting their combined saliva into her own mouth and the taste of Ambrosia has never been so delectable before.

Her chest was pressed ardently onto his chiseled bare one burning those pulsating fibers into the depths of her unfulfilled fantasies, feeling them ripple like a shield of iron and marble upon her skin, exuding a warmth that made the cold droplets of water dissipate.

That body holding her steady against him felt like sublime gratification and it was simply unbelievable how Sakura could feel so _safe_ into the embrace of the enemy, but the feeling was there sound, clear and boiling and amassed into the pits of her belly, while Sasuke stumbled backwards unable to keep themselves steady into the water and swam to the middle of the lake, until Sakura couldn't tap the mud from the bottom with her toes anymore, but Sasuke's embrace kept her afloat with more intensity and posessivesness than before, somehow trying to compensate for the outrageous idea that he had to attempt to kill her, it being triggered from his guilty counscience.

When Sakura started to respond to whatever demon has snuck into his mind making it cloudy and insane for that taste for everything great she represented, kissing him back with almost equally pathos, thirst and pleasure, Uchiha lost it for real.

Those tangerine suave petals skating along his own trying to timidly brush over his mouth and find a harmony or a synch and enjoy the feeling of their enticing kiss, that sensation felt like the best imixture of the finest aphrodisiac that any Deity would be jealous of.

She was so delectable, so luscious and her skin was cashmere, glacé and coated into that sensual form of a heart shape, of a rose and heartbeats combined, and that shape was simply so right for his tongue to roll over her lips then slide past them to taste her deeper.

She started to get the hang of it, finding a good angle to apply the right amount of pressure upon his yielding lips that were frenetically leading her to this nocturnal forbidden tango, and soon enough they found a pleasurable rhythm; Sakura tried to match the pace, her moist lips stroking his own while their hands cruised freerly along every contour of their frames.

Sakura let her digits skim along the planes of his back following every sturdy muscle, while his own palms tickled and kneaded her shoulders, coming down to her sides where it brushed past the swell of her rounded breasts which were framed by the clothes that stuck to her curvaceous form, makign her shiver and moan into his mouth in pure delight only urging him to explore her further.

He was kissing her with forfeiture. She was an explosion of delicious aromas, an aromatherapy of essences and fragrances and no sane man would be capable to fight back that irresistible exposure of femeinity and sweetness, she was addictive and intoxicating and Sasuke absolutlely _loved_ every minute of their kiss and every inch of her skin, not even bothering to appear as detached and stoic to their kiss on the contrary, his own feral growls when she got bolder enough to bit on his lips then suckle on them greedily only betrayed how much he was enjoying that.

That kiss was burning delicious; Uchiha Sasuke was an incredibly _delicious_ man in contrast to the cold and savage shinobi that he was. The passion he poured into every stroke of his calescent lips against her own made everything inside her jitter and shiver in delight. He was both making her weak and inspirited.

Strong hands wrapped around the Priestes` form traipsing along her slim shoulders and swan back, massaging her skin and thus bringing her even closer into his chest, while their kiss explored depths that made both tremble and fuse so intimately together.

Their tongues tapped and slithered along one another, trapped into a dirty waltz with Sasuke dominating their pace, suckling Sakura`s tongue into his own mouth and her soul along with it.

And the more she was trying to keep the pace and fall into sync with him –or maybe listen to her own heart`s cadence, the most pleasurable their kiss became.

The Priestess`s lips were savory and pure ambrosia, combined with the incredible softness and the richness of her full petals.

She was the _best_ damn thing that Sasuke has ever tasted and it was not only because the notion of corrupting her felt so sinfully addictive and exciting, but also because she entombed  everything that a man would be aroused by and maybe even _more._

She was the personification of the maleable **wind** and he was the child of **fire** ; her nature was not nullifying his own on the contrary it was _enhancing_ its power. She was a catalyst, an ally, a surprising element, someone to make his fire grow stronger and where the fire burned then there was passion and light. And where light shone brightly then...

...there was _no_ more darkness.

Sakura peeped to the handsome raven haired male through glazed emerald orbs when they pulled briefly apart to inhale the much needed oxygen, hot breaths fanning across each other`s face, being only inches apart from one another and those emerald pools shone brighter than crystals gleam in the flickering of a candle whispering between pants for air.

Her voice was so exotic and warm in the velvet darkness of the nocturne, enhanced only by the pale silver blue dance of rays scintillating from the sky above mirroring into the lake. "W-Why... did y-you... kiss me Sasuke?"

 _Again?_

His silky spikes fell on the curve of her cheek. His orbs were glossy and lustrous reflecting her own, so distinctive through the darkness around.

The alabaster of his marble skin was glowing under the mirror of the stars highlighting the sublime beauty in his regal aura and his orbs were playful, mischievous almost sensually malice but void of murderous intent alltogether, gleaming and playing the strings of her mind with only a simple sizzling look into her eyes.

"Because the idea of kissing a _Priestess_ amuses me terribly." Those husky vibrations coming from his chocolate voic encompassed half of a lie because no matter how deeply entertaining must have been for a rebellious man like him to corrupt an innocent woman and posess her in all the plenitude of his sensual demonic side inviting her to the den of sin and concupiscent pleasure, he could never deny the fact that Sakura tasted absolutely delicious.

She was after all so savory, delectable and sweet and he simply couldn't stop tasting her lips. What was the point in doing something sinfully good with no consequences?

Sakura fought back the calescent tears sprinkling along the curve of her eyelashes upon hearing his vapid remark by biting down her bruised lips hard, visinbly hrut by the implication of his kiss harboring nothing personal and intimate but only a smidgen of arrogance and a plethora of wicked intent and mockery. "Why is that?" In reponse to his acid reply, Sakura didn't surrender to his arrogant confession and in reply, she let her helpless innocence and deeply inquisitive wise nature to face him with an equally strong power –her _feelings._

Those were the moments when Uchiha genuinely hated her for being so innocent and ineffable and yet so incredibly versatile and intelligent; wisdom and purity didn't go well hand in hand and yet she was fusing them with so much genius exuding an irresistible attraction –for both an enemy of his _and_ a woman.

Sasuke was well accustomed to respond to wicked scheming intentions, see underneath villainous plans of betrayal but he didn't know how to respond to such sudden words since they spilled so freely from their restraints, so genuine, so sincere in their elegant resonance and so intemperate with feelings.

"Because you didn`t fight me back in the moment I have started to kiss you _Priestess_ ," The premeditate exchange of their names pushed the barriers of conectedness and affection beyond the barriers of lust and carnal pleasure. Smirking beyond the swells of pure masculine beauty and sexiness, Sasuke leaned forward to design imaginary small circles with the tip of his nose brushing against her small one, tickling her warmly while his words played melodies inside her chest that made her helpless heart get drunken in beatitude. "like you were _supposed_ to do, instead you have willingly _kissed_ me back and I dare to assume that you definitely _enjoyed_ it deeply."

There was not even a single iota of denial whirling into the depths of her emerald pools at his brazen surmise and Sasuke`s confidence has been supported by the manly instinct churning inside him, and allowing him to perceive that irresistible attraction through her gestures; it was painfully and laughably obvious that she was free _falling_ in _love_ with him, but instead of being annoyed by her trite attitude of being attracted to his good looks, Sasuke found himself bubbling with pride and deeply amused by her. "So tell me now... how are you liking the road from Paradise to Sin _my_ dear Priestess?"

So all his touches and kisses were all part of this demon`s plan to corrupt her? It was a game of who could make the other give up on his ambition first into the explosive collision of dreams and dieologies and somehow… the notion of being used for sheer _amusement_ broke Sakura in half and shattered her like fine crystal dropped against cobblestone.

" _You_ are the one who is lying to himself and breaks his own rules Sasuke and _not_ me." Because Sakura was completely honest to both him and herself and the fact that her heart was ticking the cadence of life inside her chest faster than normal in his presence was not a secret for any of them.

"No, I am not. I told you before that you do not know me at all."

"Yes you are not being true to yourself and you know why?" Sakura informed him between gasps of air while her delicate hands trembled in their elevation to his face as she boldly and gracefully cupped his aristocratic high cheek bone, caressing his face and jawline with a touch so meaningful and suave that not even such a stoic man like him had the necessary force to slap her hand away off his person, instead his obsidian orbs widened so slightly and almost unnoticeably upon the warm contact as it sent pleasurable tickles along his spine and her butterfly voice affected him even more than her gestures.

"Because you _do_ care when you are not supposed to be emotionally _attached_. You are breaking your own rules by showing feelings when you are not supposed to let them spill... _Sasuke_." Smarly, Sakura used his own previous words to quote him and this time, he used his own weapons to deliver another blow against the walls around his chest.

In return to the guts to play with his mind, Sasuke wanted to curse her to Hell an dback, to resent her for the way she whispered his _name_ –fondly like only a lover would do– for the things she said so lovingly, he wanted to push her away and yet... He found himself sliding his fingertips through her coral hair and lead her head up to him, kissing her again passionately while losing himself in the warmth torrid radiance of her luscious skin –and that was his own answer since Sasuke was letting his mind speak throuhg the power of his gestures and not his words.

He had no words to say simply because there were none. They were two opposite forces coming from different worlds, two streaming rivers which will never cross and their encounter was sinful by definition, considering who they were. They were not supposed to be there embracing each other and tasting each other`s lips with so much pleasure and passion and so any words that might try to limn their forbidden ghost of romance will never suffice.

And this time, Sasuke went feral into their lip lock as the vault containing his smothered sentiments has been unlocked. His kiss was hard and drowning, intoxicating, burning hot, demanding, possessive almost desperate, sensual, wet and deep and absolutely breathtaking.

The ripples of Sakura`s feminine moans travelled between them like the echo of a gong pounding through their eardrums.

Her own lips tried to capture his own but she couldn't keep up that rhythm. He was suckling on her lips, tracing his naughty tongue over them to have a full taste experience, then rolled inside her mouth not giving her the opportunity to kiss him back the way she wanted.

Hands which stole from the grace of a swan fisted into Sasuke`s lustrous ebony hair and cupped his nape like clinging to a lifesaver, while Sasuke boldly let his hands traipse from Sakura`s smaller back to her rounded ass under the water, and squeezed her hard as he slammed her body into his own, turning their kiss into something that was on a whole new level of excitement.

"Oh!"

"Feelings..." Sasuke briefly pulled apart from her lips to breathe against her glossy petals, tilting his head sexily on his side smirking in pure handsome arrogance to her and cutting her throaty moan short. "I long got rid of such useless _weaknesses_."

The darkness in his flaming orbs swallowing her because this time she knew that he was not speaking with his heart but with his enclosed feelings. Sasuke run a hand along her creamy inner thigh, kneading her silky skin with the back of his palm and she shivered visibly, tensing under his touch since no man has ever touched her like that before, but relaxed immediately into the soothing of his caress being unable to fight against that arousal and excitement.

Something about his elegance felt unhurried, torrid and exciting and yet incredibly delicate, impossibly graceful and sensual it was enough to elicit tremors in form of bubbling bonfire embers bolting along her skin.

"This is just..." His nose nuzzle the suave veneer of her swan neck sliding down her pulse and letting her mint fan hotly upon her throbbing vessel; it felt electric, erotic and arousing and made her entire body seems to float and her senses haywire.

He didn't know what was he doing in that moment, his mind was drunken and befogged, it was out of his control; it was just about magnetism between their sizzling silhouettes, the enticing smile those emerald hypnotic orbs and something that Sasuke couldn`t fight against. "a way to..."

He whispered something against her skin but Sakura didn't know what it was because as soon as his finger started to rub the cleft between her nether lips throuhg the damp lingerie that stuck to her soft body, all the coherence left her mind and dissipated through the crisp air around like a supernova travelling around the Universe.

"A-Ah– S-Sasu–"

"–try to resist me Priestess, I _dare_ you." He all but blew those words to her, coating his threat and standoffish challenge in a veneering of leather, lace, chocolate and rivers of rich wine combined into an indescribable sexy voice that only Sasuke possessed. No other man into the entire Shinobi World possessed such an inflection that could melt a woman from inside out like his.

Sakura knew that he was playing and smirking through their sealed tapping lips, but even if her own hands were timidly grazing his shoulders with a touch so diaphanous that only _she_ possessed, unknowing that it was exactly that delicacy the thing which turned him on beyond belief, Sakura couldn't find it in her to break the kiss and concoct a smart reply.

His right hand went along her jaw, wrapping around her check and forced her to arch her neck more to have full access to her mouth, while his left palm grew more daring and started to knead her thigh under the water, then brushing along her abdomen, this time avoiding certain places on purpose, tracing a finger along the contour of her damp lingerie which was concealing her modesty from him.

She literarily _burned_ and melted into his arms, pleading throuhg her broken bemoans for him to touch her _there_ again and stroke his skilled long fingers across her inner folds.

All the way kissing him _back._

* * *

This was the second time kissing Sasuke and their second time when being engaged into something intimate, but it was definitely different from the first time and she could tell the difference.

Feelings... Like pearls from the memory's necklace were now twined around her heart, pulsating, leaping and tapping against the drums of her ribcage.

Sakura had _sentiments_ for this Uchiha man, feelings that vibrated like million harps whenever he was close and this was so absurd since he was cold, a rogue criminal who killed a Kage in cold blood, imprisoned every shinobi and tried to force himself on her first time they met, but even so...

This was a duality within her person that Sakura couldn't comprehend but it felt like suffocating her and making her go berserk; she felt something for Sasuke but not only she did _not_ know what kind of feelings she nurtured for her, but she was also reeling in a thick fog about who exactly had such feelings from the two persons trapped into her body –the kind hearted Priestess who loved every single soul no matter how corrupt he was because she was the messenger of love and peace, or the _woman_ in her.

Something about this gorgeous looking man was contradicting; Uchiha Sasuke just wasn't the same ruthless person without any emotion anymore when engaging in such intimate actions, even when he abducted her in the forest and almost took away her innocence, something was different about him.

But she couldn't tell exactly what because he was a stranger with a really terrible reputation.

The rose haired Priestess could feel it resonate even now through his mind-blowing lop lock –a dissipating urgency that couldonly be limned as the resemblance of sheer _desperation._

Was Sasuke subconsciously coveting for contact and acceptance? For something soft, warm and affectionate to quench this solitude and dissipate for darkness?

Surprisingly, it was Uchiha the one to briefly break their lip lock again and in the moment his lips parted from hers has Sakura realized just how much she craved for oxygen for she found herself panting like running to the marathon taking large gulps of oxygen into her lungs.

But he didn't make the distance between them considerable only as much as he could come into his senses like he himself couldn't phantom what went through him to kiss her and touch her body like that.

Their breaths were breezing upon their gasping lips hotly. Their limbs froze around their shoulders and lower spines keeping them twined in a tight embrace.

It was a good thing that Sasuke gave up on the idea of wanting to drown her for she couldn't tap the bottom with her toes; he was keeping her floating into his arms but his kiss made her soar above the stars like gravity lost its meaning into that maze of colors and soft melodies.

Demure jadeite eyes dared to gaze intensly into his onyx orbs and her breath almost refused to depart from her throat. She had never seen someone's eyes glowing with such a radiance and even if they had the color which negated all the other colors of the rainbow, they didn't look black anymore.

They were half shut and looking into her own from behind the lush veil of long raven eyelashes and the shorter spikes of hair that latched to his forehead and brushing past his eyebrows in an extremely sexy manner, and she could make up all the shades of silver and luscious onyx but she saw it clearly that they were slightly glossy and glass like obviously _affected_ by their fondlings and that radiance of them gave him away –that he wasn't impassive and unemotional to that kiss.

"S–Sasuke–" She just couldn't help but whisper his name; it came out as the most suave perfumed wind in the caress of a torpid April day from her pinkish-purple bruised lips.

Something trembled into the pits of the last Uchiha`s stomach when she whispered his name like that and it was the thing that made him touch the ground and come back from where his mind was wandering blindly and lost into euphoria. "Don't," His voice wasn't much louder in volume but deeper and huskies in resonance than hers. "ever say my name like _that._ " Never in his life has someone affected him so much by only saying his name like Sakura did.

And it was not because he did not like it but because the way she whispered it, breathed it, spelled it and felt it like probing the resonance from her lips was something that made him almost... _shiver._

 _What the heck?_ He thought that he has restrained her chakra, so how come she was still able to spellbind him like this? She was able to leave an impression on him, unbelievably, even without using any trick or any Jutsu.

This was an ability of the consciousness that Sharingan an could not predict nor decipher; it tricked the eye but it couldn't fool the heart and what Sasuke didn't know was that his donuts was just a manifestation of feelings - feelings that came from the heart.

She felt her tense into his arms and she didn't understand his words and his attitude but he still had a hold on her, not pulling back and nor evading her.

His words spoke a different language than his eyes, because his onyx orbs, the dilation of his pupils which were resonating to how fast his heart was running in his chest to catch up with how she was feeling.

"I-I... W-Why are y-you-"

"You are something... " the rest of his incoherent words faded into thin air an smelled within their lips as he slide his mouth against hers once more.

Something about the look in her chartreuse orbs, the way those emerald diamonds seemed to be broken and shattered when he said those words made him lean to her involuntarily and kiss her once more.

They stumbled few steps backwards as Sasuke pulled her more into his arms, tightening his arms that were twined around her shoulders until their shadows melted into a single soul and he lost the contact with the bottom of the lake, floating on his back and taking her with him, but miraculously they didn't immerse completely, remaining afloat.

Out of pure reflex, Sakura sought for a foothold and coiled her legs around his calves, while her hands slid from his chest to his shoulders and neck, leaning into his kiss. Her eyes were squeezed shut but her vision had never been clearer.

A muscular hand traipsed along her spine in a shuddering manner, following the rippling of her clothes under the water, glistening into the front of the two folds that wrapped around her leg, spanning along the inside of her thighs, forcing her up to his body.

Sakura let out a broken moan of surprise and pleasure shiveringin delight as his hand kneaded around the supple milky flesh of her thighs to lift her up and she immediately straddled her legs around his sturdy waist for leverage, locking her ankles behind the pyramid bone of his lower back pressing on it.

How Sasuke managed to keep them above the surface she couldn't begin to understand, but her mind was slowly and steadily sliding into a sweet euphoria making it hard to think, to breathe and to collect her thoughts.

His kiss was so delicious, so luscious and soft, his skin, his amazing scent that was enhanced by the sweet cold water which glistened on the marble of his skin, this was all so amazing.

How could something so dead inside, so cold and so detached feel and taste so good, so rich and deluxe like a combination of the finest wine fragrances and so passionate and warm?

Uchiha`s lips dancing and glistening between her own were poisoning the Priestess` reeling into ecstasy mind, that indescribable sin pervading into her pores diffused into the vault of her mind, drowning and spellbound her to give into him and she did.

Sin felt ten times better than any taste of Heaven if it was Sasuke the one to let her have a bite of it.

"Hmm–" Another bemoan trembled along Sakura`s lustrous moist lips through their kiss while Sasuke was massaging the silky skin of her inner thighs sliding higher until he almost brushed the sensitive skin of her lower lips, as her damp lingerie latched to every outline of her feminine delineation enhancing her womanly beauty.

He deliberately kept skimming his elongated digits along her lower abdomen and thighs, then skimmed down the back of her bent knee which rested on the sharp bone of his hip, and she almost jolted up in surprise at how good it felt to be tapped by his fingertips in that erogenous spot.

Sasuke himself had absolutely no idea where should he touch her –not that he was very lucid in that moment, but somehow her frenetic moans encouraged him further to explore and try to depict the sweetest spots to touch her.

He felt the need to touch more, feel more of her and there was no one to stop him from getting what he wanted now not even her. Her skin felt buttery and luscious under his fingertips being similar to touching pure silk oraganza and it was absolutely arousing, he wouldn't deny facts.

And Sakura wasn't resisting him either and it wasn't because she wanted to give in to his demands so easily, but because she didn't know how to fight those intense feelings –fight _him_.

She felt hot and high all over sizzling like a flaming charcoal, a falling meteorite brushing over the sky and exploding in million shimmering star dust as Sasuke's hands were making her combust.

The ebony haired Uchiha simply couldn't restrain himself. When they stumbled two more steps backwards and sumberged into the water, Sakura's silk kimono rode up along her hips and in the moment when the skin on skin contact surged through their minds like a voltage, the Uchiha reacted on autopilot.

His right hand cupped her flute waist curling around her middle section, possessive keeping her latched to his chiseled body, while his left one glided along her side, smoothly and sensually tickling her ribs under the water while she wiggled at the tingles.

Sasuke was the one to break the breathless kiss as Sakura gasped aloud for air when his lips detach from hers and suddenly the cool breeze of the charged air around them hit her damp skin, almost making her miss his hot mouth on her.

She dropped her chin on the sculpted range of Sasuke`s left shoulder, as her breathes came in laborious gasps blowing warmly into his ear, getting drown into Sasuke's thirsty lips which were planting sloppy butterfly kisses along her jawline, chin and down her pulse, where they stopped to taste the cold droplets of water burning on her milky skin.

Her pulse was cosmic energy as it exploded under his touch when Sasuke dug his canines down her cashmere skin and suckle on her throbbing pulse making the sensitive skin bruise into a distinctive mark, claiming his posession over her.

"A-Ah–" Sakura broke another bemoan when he started to suckle on her pulse and she had the instinct to shy away and close the angle by jerking her shoulder, but Sasuke brought his left hand that was massaging her shoulder to cup her head and kept her neck arched to give him more access to taste her.

Sakura didn't want to wince from him because it might feel bad, on the contrary, it was because she couldn't stand those myriads of tingling shivers tickling her body at the contact and that felt too good to resist!

A violet mark on her skin bore the imprint of his teeth and lips as Sasuke latched his tongue on the sensitive area and glistened along the curve of her neck and along her collarbone, laving his mouth along her nacre skin, enjoying the subtle taste of vanilla, honey and cherries in a nectar of passion and Paradise.

Uchiha`s skin against her own felt amazing for Sakura. So soft, so smooth, so masculine wrapping those hard muscles that were sliding along her body, he was incredible and his fire was igniting her own.

When his lips took a sharp detour along the column of her throat and nipped on her chin, Sakura dipped her head down to meet those lips that were getting her addicted and kissed him harder than anytime before, with her teeth grazing his own, her lips molding into his own and her tongue getting the eager invitation to slide into his throat and taste him deeply.

Her breaths became staccato and irregular as her skin was blowing flames through every pore. And she almost lost every fragment of sanity when her hips glissaded along his waist and down his own sculpted lower abdomen while their bodies grazed together in a magnetic intensity grinding in all the right places.

"S-Sasuke- _h_ –" Her nightingale inflection turned from dulcet to a more sensual and lower resonance and that ripple coming from her body drove Sasuke insane.

His name coming from her bruised soft petals sounding like a plea from a falling angel escaping from Paradise in a journey of finding the realm of passion, crying in pure dark pleasure and begging him for more was hysteric. The more sha was moaning and squirming into his arms, winding her body against his own, the harder his muscles got and the most turned on he got.

That sublime notion of pleasure and abandoning the gift of eternal purity and light in exchange for a moment of passion has made the ball into the pits of his belly boil like a furnace.

Adrenaline surged unhinged through his muscles which ached and tensed in delight and excitement, as well as the fire entrapped into his obsidian eyes melted into the shimmering diamonds of his irises when the bulge that formed under his lower abdomen has brushed the core between the emerald eyed woman`s parted thighs in the moment when Sakura lowered her body on his own.

He couldn't describe that feeling but if I he would chose the proper words for how it felt to have her pressed in places that suspired to burn inside her and explode in bliss and beatitude, it would be similar to being struck by his own Chidori, but instead of perceiving a paralyzing pain, Sasuke only felt an invigorating _pleasure_.

He wanted _more_. Heck he wanted her to do that _again,_ to grind her hips against his own once again, harder, faster and more electric than before and judging by the way Sakura was shivering inside his arms secretly seeking for the reenactment of that sensation, she wanted the same from him.

A feral groan erupted from Sasuke's lips as his hand that was taunting the rib under the curve of her nude breast under her clothes joined its left counterpart while Sasuke gripped her hip bones digging his nails into the delicate bones and, keeping her steady against him, he slammed his hips firmly onto hers, helplessly searching for that feeling again and considering the fact that there was only a piece of damp lace barrier between the warmth of her sensitive skin and his aroused body protruding from his pants, it made the sparkles between their grinding bodies explode like fireworks during a Festival.

"AAH!" Something that made her entire body jolt like a shooting star coursed through Sakura`s entire body when Sasuke has rotated his hips chiseled slowly twice onto her own in ample fluid motions of his flexible hips and Sakura whimpered between their messy kisses, silently begging for more.

The abrasive barrier of the soft clothes that stuck to her wet form and his nude skin created an irresistibly pleasurable friction and allowed them to mold their contours and ridges together enhancing that blissful feeling of their rocking bodies and it made Sakura`s heart stop for a nanosecond as she chocked on air, gasping aloud. "Oh dear Kami–" The God`s name has never been evoked in such a frivolous context but Sakura could not help herself.

Feeling Sasuke`s masculine body so erect and hot grazing between her moistened folds and her lower abdomen brought an undescribable pleasure; it was simply _too_ much to fight against that feeling.

Something was tremendously different from back then into the forest when Sasuke attempted to force her and eventually he ended up being cheated by a clone and she didn't know why it was that, but this time, the thought of replacing herself with a clone was the last thing playing in Sakura`s intoxicated mind.

And this was simply because there was nothing whirling into her skull now except for a commixture of fire and colors.

Sasuke leaned forward to press his lips on her throat sprinkling her skin with butterfly pecks passing the V shape of the two folds of her kimono while letting his abrasive tongue roll along her swell of her pert milky breast which poked from under her cleavage, feeling her heartbeat under his lips pounding the frenzy of million guitar strings trembling under his touch.

Her deep gasps for air that blew along his skin as she was resting her cheek on the junction between his shoulder and neck, were clear missives that her body was reacting to him and to his touch thus there was no need for words to decypher her body language, for he knew all about how much she was burning inside.

How much she _liked_ how he was touching her. Securing her lissome form into his strong arms, Sasuke held the Priestess glued to his form and slowly maneuvered them out of the water, clumsily stumbling back on the grass and immediately the change in temperature in contrast to their blind hormones made the excitement and the level of arousal reach the paramount.

They both moaned loudly at the feeling of their bare skin pressing so delicious together with the combination of the hotness of Sasuke`s body and the coolness of Sakura`s one molded into her own.

* * *

Something was staying in their way blocking his access to her body Sasuke vaguely registered and it was in the moment when his hand aimed to cup the swell of her breast that was tantalizing him everytime he looked at her without feeling like strangling her with his bare hands for how buoyant she was, has Sasuke realized that it was her clothes.

She was not entirely naked for him and that annoyed him till depths, so with a swift motion of his skilled hands, he slammed his lips against her own as she gasped aloud not anticipating him to kiss her and quickly unwrapped the wet article that was sticking to her body, sliding it along her shoulders and, sliding his palm under her lower back he easily left her up just enough to remove the fabric off her form, tossing it aside like discarding something unpleasant as it landed with a muffled thud onto the grass.

He made her entire body come to life and even the Uchiha himself was oblivious to how amazing his touch could be and this is when it dawned to Sakura that the reason why she felt like this was that this time, it was a _consensual_ act.

She didn't know why she was indulging into such intimacy but for a reason that she couldn't phantom, this felt so... natural.

Being into Sasuke`s arms like that didn't feel forced or wrong at all on the contrary, if she placed them all into the context of forgetting who they were – enemies, antagonists, the demon and the angel, then Sasuke became just a simple man whose touches and kisses tasted like _freedom_ and nothing was forced, improper or revolting.

Her chest went light and solar touched by the blessing of having _him_ kissing her and embracing her fondly, her heart burst out of her ribcage and grazed the silky horizons where her mind already got lost into the frenzy of the blissful moment and her orbs were rolling into their orbits at the amazingly _hot_ sensation. There was an electric charge surging along Sakura`s spine, her lower back running down the inside of her thighs as Sasuke let his palm slid to the curve of her ass kneading the yielding silky skin while his mouth danced on the peak of her half bare breast greedily suckling on it.

"Sasu– _Ah_!" He cut her short with another rotation of his hips upon her own while pressing his hand down her rear forcing her down on his nude chiseled body to bring the fire between their brushed hips to that sublime mindless euphoria, grazing against her so sinfully delicious and leaving her thirsty for _more_ –for the taste of a _man_.

There was a bonfire boiling into the pits of Sakura`s stomach and everything into her navel was pulsating and boiling hotly, begging for something that she couldn't name and yet she unconsciously felt the salvation and the ability to quench the desire being trapped into Sasuke`s capable hands.

She was a puppet with golden strings played by the skilled hands of the raven haired Uchiha and dancing on the Devil`s favorite melody, nude of any inhibitions.

Only _pleasure_.

She should be petrified and scared about getting engaged into such an intimacy with a man, especially since she was clearly in a submissive position being his _prisoner_ but somehow... she didn't feel restrained nor abused or taken advantage of by him, no.

This was so _amazing_ , so enrapturing and felt more incredibly addictive than it should have had. Her captor`s taste of cognac and mint chocolate combined with how sensual his kisses and touches were and how incredibly skillful he was –in everything he did, knowing exactly how to touch her and how much pressure to apply in every stroke, being more rebel than his normal reticent and laconic self– turned him from a terrible enemy into a brilliant stupendous _lover._

Oh how much she wished that in this moment he wasn't an _Uchiha_ and her enemy, but just a simple _man_. Sakura wanted so much to see the man _behind_ his surname, the face behind the curse of the Uchiha clan. Was this his real face or this elegance was just a wicked sick game of his sewed into a mesmerizing mask in that confusing masquerade?

Deep down her heart and led by the intuition of her pure heart, Sakura knew it all too well that the only way to steal a glimpse into Sasuke`s soul was to look through his obsidian windows, so she unglued her hands that were exploring the planes of his back muscles massaging his herculean shoulders while being too lost into the bliss of the moment but too shy to venture front where her fingertips ached to feel _him_ , from his body to twine into his locks and forced his head up to look into her eyes.

Sasuke who was pretty much intoxicated, drunken and out of it only working high on hormones and lust barely focused to gaze into her eyes, not understanding what was tucking on his hair. "Sasuke... w-what is... going on between–"

"–you really think that I have no control," His harsh gasps were contradicting his words but Sakura knew better; he was talking about the place where they were heading to right now and everything that they shouldn't be doing but they stomped on every single rule.

"but in reality you don't know me at all. You _trust_ me, you are not afraid to _kiss_ me, you _melt_ under the pleasure of _my_ touches and yet you don`t know _who_ I am Priestess." Meaning that he could be the entire opposite to what she currently mistook him for –a secret romance, when in reality he could have very well be the unemotional and rigid man that anyone feared him for and she was in great _danger_.

Something electric was transpiring between them hitting Sakura's spine in waves, violently rippling along her spine and limbs, overpowering the sensation of being trapped under those blinding feelings of merged carnal desire, pure pleasure, anticipation and yearning.

Unlike the first time together when only ambition and the need to dominate his pray has played the invisible shield between those overflowing sentiments, now they came to ricochet back to them both, enhancing the feeling of a natural nocturne romance and not even Sasuke could deny it that he was _hungry_ for this woman and desired her in a way that he never craved for anything so ardently before, not even for the illusory success of _revenge_.

Because unlike all those ambitions that drove him in the past, wanting _her_ felt contrary to all the benumbing feelings; she was uplifting, upbeat, effervescent, she was giving him life, she was making him come _alive._

Her beauty fell in cascades of grace under his stare blessing her with the touch of an angel's ineffable and untouchable purity, exposing herself to his glowing orbs like virgin snow caressing the velvet sky and making something primal and natural pelt into his chest like an uneven bass guitar`s strings.

The Priestess` unabashed feelings were plethoric and emotional trying to coat him into that transcendental veil of innocence, and carry on through her own realm of angels and thus she was an oxymoron, a chimera of lights and colors, one whose shadow shone brighter than the sun; she can never be smeared by darkness even though she was trapped within his sturdy arms or soaked into the drenching lust that he conjured.

She remained part of the Paradise even as her light steps tapped against the concrete pavements of sin and lush, because her heart remained genuine, pure, luminous, _loving_ and so _so_ beautiful. Sasuke let his orbs and his mind's eyes skim over her body slowly, in torrid glimmers breathing her in, observing and studying her and her beauty hurt him till his core.

Even watching her sprawled against the canopy of moist grass, surrounded by nature and untouched by any man before made her appear as mesmerizing and unique as a rough diamond.

A fallen star taking human form was gasping for air while silently gazing deeply into his very soul and her luminescent orbs shone in a silent plea, begging him to do something – _anything_ – to open up a small door and let he in.

He could feel how scared she was because every pore of her body quivered like a lamb into the target of a gun as it filled with goose bumps which were pricking along her forearms and chest, but at the same time, she didn't try to fight him back, only shifting to adjust her position under him who was probably crushing her with his body`s weight.

Sakura was enthralling and mesmerizing in forms and beauty just like the picture of a genius painter who filled a blank canvas with an abundance of colors sewed in an exuberant relief of curves, feminine contours and underlining the sublime beauty of a woman from its ancestral definition to the level of a Madonna.

His entire atmosphere changed suddenly Sakura briefly noticed and it was so thick and dense the aura that Sasuke was projecting with his eyes and occasional brushes along her nude skin, that she felt it electryfing and making her float above the clouds.

Something was happening... She couldn't name that emotion, it was the ghost of a feeling suspended out of the swings of time, but it made her heart pendulate with hard cadences, pounding and percussion inside the bars of her chest and forcing the golden lock to break free from its cage.

Sasuke was shadowing her form like a splendid black puma cornering and impaling its prey, pinning her with a stare that turned her ration hypnotic, but that heaviness of her chest, the air burning inside her lungs and the filigree fluttering inside her belly soaring to her heart were turning the tension into something pleasant.

His lithe body sculpted after the image of Roman Emperors, so masculine but never losing the touch of august refinement, sensuality and precision on his angular mien, the chiseled cheekbones and strikingly strong lineaments spread before her eyes, colliding with the elemental beauty of the night sky which was spanning in twinkling lights behind him, making him every more gorgeous looking.

He was nested between her spread legs with her knees brushing over the swell of his hip bones in a vain attempt to preserve delicacy and modesty but somehow, she didn't feel his weight on her, on the contrary Sasuke seemed to become easy as air, a mixture of seductive shadows, a dark projection of her mind entombing her deepest desires. So dark in his lone beauty and yet so alluring, graceful and silent –he was an enigma.

Lips suspended one breathe away from hers made tingles fill Sakura`s sumptuous lush lips in anticipation of another kiss and that barely distance between their mouths melted into mini explosions of warmth, fanning hotly over her face and making her more aroused than she already was.

Cool droplets of water percolated along Sasuke`s temples and took a meandering detour along his high cheeks and lips, and poured over her own petals like they were tantalizing each other without kissing, trapped in an elemental communication, and it felt _magnetic._

Eyes more lustrous that shimmering diamonds into the clear water were soaked in lustful desires and feelings for him and they rolled in unexplainable ripples to him and Sasuke felt it all too clearly that it was not mere _sympathy_ or kind intentions of noble curiosity the feelings that the Priestess nourished for him but something _else._

And damn right he _so_ knew exactly _what_ she felt but right in that moment, flirting, charming and coquetting her was the last _thing_ in his mind.

Guess that Sasuke was simply _too_ good in what he did if he managed to charm a woman without actually trying and in fact, reverse psychology and attraction was such a funny concept because it deviated from normal just to latch to its counterpart, and that was the reason why Sakura has been cajoled automatically to explore the depths of what _he_ felt inside, stirred by his _rejection_ and distant demeanor.

But even knowing that she was at _his_ mercy to do as he pleased with her, writhing under him in her free falling from Paradise to the new world of sensations that were _forbidden_ along her journey to discover not only his personality, but discover herself as well as someone _behind_ the notion of a Priestess. A normal young woman whose appeal to him was going both ways.

Even having the knowledge that the glossy dazed look in Sakura`s orbs, the crystalline radiance and the amazing soothing warmth exploring and entrapping the seductive beauty of her detailed golden and emerald shades were all tokens of her starting to _love_ him terribly, Sasuke couldn't stop himself; she was a drug resembling a chocolate addiction. He felt lured by her to the point where it became _too_ much, too abundant, too harmful and yet... he wanted more and more.

There was this annoying unforeseen impulse that wrapped its ropes around his brain and limbs and controlled him from an universe far away from his ration and self-discipline – one that Sasuke didn't have a name for– to _have_ her only for him.

It was primal, natural, organic to the post where it raced through him painfully delicious and beastly.

Sasuke desired this woman beyond the concept of a Priestess, more than his pathos to corrupt her and punishing her in a rejected sadistic yearn to imagine her as the object of retribution for everything that wronged him and his Clan –he wanted her as a simple _woman_ and not as the tool of his revenge or a prisoner.

His lips, so ardent and moist with passion and glistening full, sumptuous and compelling everything that his intoxicated sable eyes couldn't convey into words, leaned forward without invitation led by this irresistible thirst that traversed along his spine and captured Sakura's own in savage temptation, kissing her with abandonment.

Her mouth felt like invaded by the supreme infusion of water, fire and wind, being softer and silkier than the caress of a summer rain against his skin and the sweetness of ambrosia, vanilla and cinnamon invaded Sasuke`s mouth and poisoned his senses.

His kiss felt like a tango twined with the cadence of the uneven percussion of their heartbeats, suckling on her own like wanting to breathe the life within her chest. The more he kissed her deeply, the more addictive the feeling was. Sakura was a fast learner already being used to his kissing technique and she responded without any reticence, wrapping her hands around his neck and pulling him closer to her, embracing him fondly.

She felt beyond amazing, even better with each passing moment, even better than how she felt before and slowly but steadily, Sasuke started to lose the touch with his hate and reality and get drown into her everything.

Him who wouldn`t even imagine himself touching another woman let alone being intimate with her now found himself naked into the middle of the raw nature and kissing his prisoner with pathos and even allowed and _encouraged_ her betwen lupine hot growls to _touch_ him further, excitement raising with every passing moments to alarming levels.

That firm contours of his supple lips, coalescing and tasting like refined sparkling wine bubbling into the pits of a delectable spicy and masculine bouquet found a ravishing rhythm upon her own lips and Sakura found herself invaded by everything that this man represented.

Sasuke`s kiss was demanding, pleading, begging, asking and expecting a response to everything that he couldn't say in words and she couldn't help but let herself fall into the rhythm, moaning softly between their exchange of fire, saliva and taste, rolling her tongue inside his mouth and playing with his own muscular organ hotly and dirty.

The sexy onyx eyed man let his warm palms run along her forearms and caress her gently and sensually while she was taking full fists of his lush ebony mane tucking on it and that excited him even more. He must be some kind of masochist because he absolutely enjoyed the way Sakura was pulling on his hair. The fire in his belly and the heavy boulder that sunk deep into his abdomen and traversed into his groins where blood was pumping along adrenaline and hormones nearly made him go berserk.

He pressed himself deeper into her chest when Sakura tightened her embrace around his shoulders nearly crushing her with his firm body, but his elegance was exuding through every pore and albeit their forms were molding like cosmic energies fusing in the same kernel of a new sensation, Sakura has never felt more alive, freer to be like her inner herself –whoever she wanted to be– and explore every inch of the gorgeous Uchiha male fulfilling everything she secretly desired for.

That feeling of having a man pressed into the nakedness of her body, embracing and touching her with those amazing hands and knowing that he was the first one to see her like this was something beyond words –it was pure magic.

Sakura wasn't thinking about anything else, not even how to find a rhythm and kiss him with the same profound passion and reward him with equally expert strokes, no, she was positive that the Uchiha himself wasn't interested in skill either, but rather into the feeling of her lips moving upon his own, responding to him and the way he was happily opening up his mouth to let her roll her tongue past his lips and taste him at the content of her heart until she lost that natural shyness, was divine and only encouraged her more.

This Uchiha was definitely _not_ a superficial man. Sasuke loved to explore every iota of everything around him until he disclosed the supreme definition of things that interested him and currently, she was the object of his desire.

And he was doing it even when he got intimate to someone and that was one of the reasons why he was such a perfect epitome of a secret lover –one that any woman would desire for. Sasuke could give a woman pleasure and passion without putting too much effort into it, simply because it was in his Uchiha blood to covet for perfection and put feelings into his actions.

Someone like Sasuke perfectly embodied that magnetic fascination for the forbidden romance which came along the flooding of passion beyond borders and enfranchisement from the hinges of morals and personal beliefs. Sakura let her lips taste his own freely like she never tasted anything before.

And by all the Heavens above, he was so incredible delicious! There were no other words comprised into a caress from the moon to limn that incandescent intimacy she felt while kissing _him_. His tongue –so unabashed and dominating– fell prey to the taste of her sweet mouth rolling along her lips, ebbing her abundant taste of warmth in a mixture of Christmas fragrances and arousing feminine richness, rolling over her pearl teeth and the arcade of her mouth, then sliding down her throat up and down then returning back on her mouth, filling her with his taste.

Mewling seductively under his caresses, Sakura tried to roll her own tongue along his own tapping and stroking the muscular organ and immediately a whispered bemoan traveled from the back of her throat in pure delight and she managed to steal another growl from him.

It felt like a blessing from heaven for a sinner like him to have this woman within his embrace glowing under the shimmering stars and having an afterglow that metamorphosed into the depiction of a fairytale, a story about elegant ancient female warriors with seductive beauty and unparalleled skills.

Sakura melted into the mix of penumbra and deluxe glow, the susurration of the water brushing behind their shadows in occasional playful ripples, carrying their reflection into the breeze of the cool night and suddenly, the nature itself became more than just one silent witness; it turned into a protective mantle and a mesmerizing accomplice.

Droplets of water sewed against Sakura`s brocade skin resembled pearls on lace enhancing her divine beauty. She was unnatural, something labyrinthine an enigma, an intangible moon descending from the sky which Sasuke missed terribly. Her nudity under his touch was electrifying and too good to be just physical attraction, he needed to feel her, touch her, posess her and make her one with his own body.

Posessively Sasuke`s touches grew more demanding and forward, exploring and brushing past her ribs and hips, massaging her thighs and the cup of her breasts feeling her stiff under the feeling of his fingertips.

He needed more and she also needed him to make her _complete_ and cease away the fire inside her. The words _I need you_ remained unspoken but so sound and clear as their eyes locked in suppressed emotion, begging and pleading in a silent invitation and Sasuke was the one to fill his role as a man and take the lead.

Letting his palm crease the cleft between her thighs brushing past her now bare moist inner lips, Sasuke probed his way inside her with his lean index finger sliding inside her thight opening slowly tentatively feeling her barrier immediately shielding her innocence from him and suddenly her fragility and how vulnerable and pure she was even touched his heart, if only for a moment.

Of course that he knew she was untouched by anyone before him but having the tangible confirmation of him being the _first_ man in her life made him felt something stir inside his chest –something powerful. He felt a pang of _pride_ and he didn`t even know the reason why. The fact that she was openly giving herself to _him_ shouldn`t have been such a big deal and yet... it was.

Skillfully and gracefully like honing a new technique that he was trying to master and trying to get the feel of it, Sasuke let his digit slide deeper inside her slick passageway and Sakura tensed at the alien feeling of someone transgressing her most intimate barriers, freezing under him and holding his breath in a pent up anxiety and fright.

Clearly sensing that she was uncomfortable and scared by what he was doing to her, Sasuke locked gazes with her jade polished orbs and whispered to her gently but firmly. "Look at me and don`t look back. Don`t try to hide from me and relax."

There was absolutely no demanding her not to move because he ordered it, it was not forceful or invasive the way he instructed her on the contrary, his tone was kind of reassuring and soothing and thus Sakura dared to gaze into his charcoal orbs trying find a liaison and a smidgen of trust –a proof that she can trust him completely– because that level intimacy required _more_ than just lust –especially for Sakura who was far from an easy cheap woman.

It required immeasurable trust. Sasuke`s breathakingly beautful eyes were assuring her that he won't be rough to her, conveyed it to her that he knew exactly what he was doing, that his intentions were not aiming to cause her pain –not this time. Of course that it was hard to imagine a mutual trust in this context, where their hierarchies were different and he wasn't viewing her as his _equal,_ but at the same time... she didn't feel submissive to him or inferior even if _his_ Chakra glowing around her wrists was a token of her position as his prisoner.

It was more than a simple carnal desire and suddenly their roles and their names faded away somewhere into the background being carried away by the occasional warm zephyr of the wind rolling through the fir trees and the blades of the grass, making everything around them charge with vitality and seeming to come alive. Sasuke was such a tonic man and his touch was even more uplifting.

* * *

The lingering tension into her body and the sharp inhales while his digit started to move in and out of her warm passage, was pleading him in a silent language to take his time and listen to its harmonious spelling call and be gentle with her while testing and exploring what has been given to him so freely without restraint, slowly, in a deliberate manner, then basket into her fragility and taste how delicious she was with every sense and even using his _sixth_ perception to full grasp the concept of whatever intimacy traversed the span between them.

Their shadows were dancing along the meandering canopy of shadows and fading lights; nature spanned under their entwined limbs and suddenly Sasuke felt connected to the five elements now more than ever; even when he was building up chakra into his body, the feeling was not as natural as being alert and inspirited as in this moment, whilehe was touching this woman.

The Priestess was the prosopopeia of the nature, the Uchiha vaguely deduced, the fragment of the sweetest enrapture which was trapped into her fragile body, infusing his fingertips with her silkiness and warmth. She felt so soft to the touch of his finger while he stroked her tentatively, leaving the sensation of pure cashmere pampering his curious digits, all the while he was reaching swells of her form that should be kept as a secret between lovers and not between enemies.

"S–Sasu–ke..." Drowsy lustrous jade orbs half lidded when she started to relax into his touch, getting used to the sensation of having his finger curling inside her body sliding in and out, trying to reach her deeper using a slow deep motion and clearly understanding that she was not accustomed to having a man pleasuring her like that.

His unnocupied palm spanned along her chest to encompass the outline of her left breast covering it like a protective umbrella, feeling her fondly and probing the pressure that his palm should apply while squeezing the mound gently with the tips of his fingers, stroking the swell of her creamy mound like kneading airy dough and the Uchiha would not lie, she felt delicious under his palm.

Her skin rewarded his touches with half of a moan, feeling softer and silkier than pure white snow exuding of an indescribable suppleness, fitting into his palm like she was embodying a Galatea carved by his definition of an ideal woman and he was a naive Pygmalion who fell prey to its own projection of beauty –she was _perfect_ into his arms and _fitting_ into his touches like she has been designed for him and him _only_.

To be _mine..._

Tentatively Sasuke rolled the back of his palm along the pert breast, while her rosy nipple was tickling his warm hand perking up and getting swollen with each stroke and he absolutely reveled in all the responses of their bodies trying to fall into a pleasurable synchronization.

Sakura's breaths rolled in laborious puffs traveling past her lush raised lips and she involuntarily arched her lower back and upshot her chest to helplessly surrender to Sasuke's incredible touch silently begging him not to stop touching her like that.

Intangibility twined with an indescribable vacuum enlivened her and never in her life has something felt more uplifting and close to touching Paradise than Sasuke`s hands playing with her body.

It was not even important whether Uchiha was a refined expert or a curious unpolished wanderer in search for his own manhood, because what truly made her burn like a torch in Olympus was the shivering intimacy and effervescent erotica coating them in a veil of lust and desire.

"Ah..." A short bemoan stretched along Sakura`s lavish lips when Sasuke cupped her nipple between his forefinger and thumb rubbing the sensitive tulip bundle between his lean digits and giving it a curious attention like discovering the miracles of a woman's delicacy for the first time in his life.

Hands accustomed to maneuver lethal weapons, digits that were virtually stained by the blood of his enemies were also capable of creating a bubble of so much pleasure and that was an incredible concept.

He was _so_ tender as he pinched the erect bud applying just the right dosage of pressure so as not to hurt her, then rolled the back of his palm along the swell of her milky breast, massaging it with circular motions which left Sakura nearly breathless, chocking on air at the sensation.

Her right hand automatically latched into his sable locks of damp hair, taking a full trembling fist of his rich silk mane when Sasuke leaned forward and tapped his moist lips over her other breast tentatively at first, pressing them around the rosy areola while continuing to rub his twin erect bundle which begged for his attention, tasting and playing with her chest.

The temperature between the crisp air and his warm mouth sent shivers along her spine. Sakura`s ration had been carried away through myriads of sensations when Sasuke started to roll his lips up and down her sweet nipples, rolling his tongue occasionally over the sensitive buds while glistening saliva seeping from his lips and moistened her yielding skin hotly, and that felt like the most incredible sensation that Sakura has ever experienced.

Half lidded dazed jade orbs rolled intot he back of her hear in pure pleasure. That felt _divine_! _He_ was amazing.

A divine bliss traipsing along the column of her spine residing into the pits of her abdomen and lower back, burning like a tight ball accumulating an immeasurable tension which spanned within her inner muscles and upshot right between her most sacred region in hot spasms and short electrical jolts made Sakura involuntarily wind her hips against Sasuke`s own body in a delicious friction, helplessly searching for something that only he could give her –she wanted _him_.

Her hand through his hair grazed his scalp sliding along the soft skin of his nape and holding onto his lean shuolders like clinging to an anchor to save herself from droning into that blissful sin that he conjured. His burning lips suckling on her nipple and pulling on it greedily, his abrasive tongue laving the swell of her breast in ample strokes tasting her skin into his mouth, his other hand massaging the other mound so as to give both of them all of his attention and his finger sliding throuhg her moist folds pumping her steadily, were more than she could have taken.

"D–Dont... Sa–Sasuke–" Said man's senses were be numbed in the form of a synesthesia that made him lose the touch with the reality and thus everything that she was moaning to him went to deaf ears, he was hearing nothing of it; she was too much for him, too delicious. The things that Sakura wanted to convey to him was _not_ to stop and give her _more._

Uchiha himself was floating into a parallel world of bliss, barely being aware of what was going on around him or _what_ he was doing. He was completely drugged.

He was blind to what she was saying and deaf to what he was seeing because in the moment he felt the taste of her body on the tip of his tongue, logic lost its meaning in lieu of how animalistic and primal she made him feel; even spelling his own goddamn name was something that his mind had difficulties with remembering.

It didn`t matter anymore.

He was probably resembling the biggest idiot in the world by how he was suckling fervently on the Priestess's nipple pulling on the silky bundle of nerves until he felt it pop like a cherry under his lavish lips, acting just as desperate and carnal as a pubescent thirsty teenager blinded by hormones and lush but he couldn't care less about that.

Never in his life has Sasuke tasted something similar to how Sakura's skin felt and in fact, it was surreal for him that something in the world could be softer than her skin. He literary discovered the recipe of peachy ambrosia and that projected him into the same realm of Deities, because that syrupy taste resembled nothing from this world.

It was magnificent, deluxe, exquisite and so much like her elegance and purity. That was the taste of innocence, of a woman untouched by any man before, she was a secret oasis of honey and vanilla pooling into the pits of a sacred temple, and _he_ was being the very first one to discover her and have a drop of her taste, and suddenly the desire to experience and eat every inch of her body and nourish from her with the same pathos of drinking from a golden regal goblet filled with the sweetest wine, ravaged Sasuke`s innards.

He felt like going mad if he didn't have this woman in the most primal way possible. Her innocence combined with the fragility and the eternal ethereal ineffable turning ghee diaphanous form into the most peregrine sensual picture, was driving him insane.

This was something so blindly erotic that no sane man would ever resist. Hormones and adrenaline came undone from the hinges of his body and filled him with an electric energy like he never had before. Sasuke had no shame to admit that he felt so alive, so light and animalistic and yet so drugged and anesthetized and it felt amazing!

He was aware of the cravings of his own body and how bad he needed to ravage this woman. The ball inside his lower abdomen was sending electric voltages burning his temples in pure need. His belly was aching and his muscles felt tense stiff and throbbing and the more his finger was moving inside her, the less control he had while imagining his hard body replacing his digit and feel her wrap around him so tightly.

Curiosity and her own trembling body encouraged Sasuke to insert a second finger inside her body seeing that she did not opposed him in any way, probing the friction when he turned his palm to face her belly and went deep inside her rubbing her inner walls and immediately his fingers coated in hot milky juices seeping from her body in response to his strokes.

"Oh Sasuke!" Her voice broke into a husky plea as Sakura bucked her hips up to naturally let Sasuke`s fingers span _deeper_ inside her body as the tension amassing within her body sent both pleasurable and painful waves of spasms.

The bulge into his pants was thick and painful as it pressed against Sakura's inner thigh silenly pleading him fill her tight body and enliven that tightness that the semen accumulating into his balls were making his body feel hot and heavy and desperate to explode inside her. This newfound power he had upon her so unhinged and simple without needing any binding technique to bring her to her knees and _begging_ him was arousing by definition.

That was torture in the most painfully blissful way and unlike the first time when Sasuke nearly relinquished into a barbaric behavior that would make any respect table man fall from nobility into disgrace, now he genuinely forgo to the intimacy that their bodies were creating, taking his time to act properly –they both knew where that was going but no one seemed to be capable to stop anymore.

Big burning droplets of sweat were rolling from Sasuke`s forehead along his masculine jaw and sewing into his hair. His body felt like a confutation of everything, because his muscles were throbbing and felt tense and yet he has never felt stronger and in control, his mind was reeling in a Nirvana induced state but he has never been more lucid, he couldn`t see anything clearly but he was seeing the Priestess more beautiful and tempting like never before, a last remaining smidgen of ration screamed at him to stop what he was doing but his heart was urging him to go further, he was cluess of what to do next to her and how to touch her but at the same time his hands have never been more delicate while caressing and fondling every inch of her warm body.

Ration being stored into a forgotten shelf of his drowsy mind, Sasuke traced his tongue over his lips and groaned incoherently. "I... this is... what am I..." He had no idea how to react, he was tossed in unfamiliar waters, he was exploring the dessert without a clear direction, her body felt so tender, so pleasurable warm and alive and he has no idea how was he supposed to melt heir opposing spirits together in a fusion of pleasure.

But something into the back of his mind let him know that he must _interact_ with her, listen to the music of her body, pay attention to the smallest inhale, the fluttering of her glossy curly eyelashes, the tunes that trembled in suave cadences from her lavish lips and act accordingly.

This was not a line battle where he could only rely to his own flawless instincts and try to find a break through his opponent's defense and exploit a weakness that he was trying to conceal from him, no, this was the reverse of how he was accustomed to roll act.

A face required two bodies molding together on the limbs of the same rhythm, interaction and communication because this time Sakura's weaknesses might cause her pleasure instead of pain. He wasn't supposed to hurt her in anyways; this was what every single inch of the man in him was screaming into the back of his mind.

Be _gentle_!

* * *

She heard what he was trying to tell her and thus Sakura half opened up her heavy eyelids to gaze into his eyes finding them misty and shrouded with desire. She was teetering like fine smoke writhing under him in bliss, giving in to his voice, traversing the den of demons while he proudly held her hand and lead her to dark desires, unhinged by any moral restraints and only pleasure had swept past he rosy, melting her like caramel in the sweetest torturous enrapture.

With a trembling right hand Sakura`s fingertips cupped his masculine jaw and keeping him in place with his onyx orbs trying to focus on her face and a dropped down guard –a rare look on him, the rose haired woman leaned forward to him and pressed her lips against his own in an open kiss.

He of course responded right back to her leaning into her touch as she took him down with him, shoulders flexing under the touch of her unnocupied hand while she was stroking his high cheek with her palm while the other hand was grazing along the planes of his back muscles, touching him lovingly. Not able to withhold those tremors of her fidgety body, Sakura let her toes run along Sasuke`s calves, intertwining their legs together and those tickles she sent through his own body sent electrical jolts all along his spine.

A deep groan travelled from Sasuke`s baritone chest when Sakura bit down on his lips hard because of the sudden wave of pleasure traversing her body in the moment the pace of his fingers inside her became more alert and brushed along a sweet spot inside her that neither knew it even existed. Squriming under him, she broke the kiss and nearly cried tossing her head right and left and grazing her cheek against his lips. "Sasuke! _Please_!"

Not knowing that he should carry on with what he was doing to her and having a moment of misinterpreting her body language, Sasuke thought that she was not enjoying herself by the way she seemed in pain –the most pleasurable torturous pain– he retracted his digits from her body and let his slick palm that was glistening with her juices caress her inner thigh and stroke her folds tantalizing her and nearly making the woman go hysteric.

For Kami`s sake _why_ did he stop?

"D–Don`t s-stop now Sasuke–" The sudden impulse to see with his own eyes what he was doing to her and understand how and where should he give all of his attention, Sasuke cut her short with a searing sealing French kiss, then letting his mouth nip down her chin and throat, traversing her chest hotly and sensually sprinkling Sakura`s chest with butterflly kisses.

"Ah!" Trashing her head backwards, Sakura moaned sensually under his touch and arched her back when Sasuke kissed his way along her defined lissome abdomen, planting a sloppy kiss onto her belly button, while pressing her knees down to force her legs wide open while shifting down on her to adjust his position for a better access between her thighs.

She did not protest albeit Sakura felt so shy and vulnerable being exposed in all the plenitude of her nudity in front of him while the cool temperature collided with her burning wet skin of her dripping core.

But at the same time, Sasuke was mag her feel so natural with him and so very... _special_. He was looking at her with sublime fascination in ways that no one has ever looked at her before.

None.

His lavish lips explored the filigree petals of her body, framed by delicate swells as she spread before his glossy eyes like a red rose kissed by a virginal pink shade, enhancing the gossamer beauty of her womanly innocence and enigma.

Sable eyes were coated in a lustrous veil of fog barely differentiating reality from enraptured as Sasuke was blindly trying to return to the paths of control and not forgo to the athirst beast within him and ravage this woman in all the ways imaginable. There was no trace of shyness of reticence into his demeanor when Sasuke dipped down his head and darted his tongue outside to flicker against her lower lips tracing it along every swell, liking her hotly.

"Oh _Kami_ Sasuke..." Words and bemoans failed Sakura in the moment she felt his lips and tongue latched to the cleft between her legs and suckling her _there_. An inimaginable wave of pleasure drowned her entirely in lust and passion submerging her like a sinking boat into the claws of an unleashed hurricane.

His Adam apple bubbled in knotty strangled thirst as his mouth went dry and burning to taste her without restraint and the mixture of her lace lips resembling silk embroidery sewed on velvet, glistening like precious pearls nested into rare shells within the cold abyss especially by the milky essences seeping from her in blind unhindered desire and anticipation was making his masonry hormones explode in a mindless frenzy.

His lips latched to her inner thigh, sliding along the fine fibers that run along her gazelle leg, wrapping his hand under her bent knee and tasting the finesse of her skin without trying to hang on any concept of morals or barriers that he personally set between them.

Thinking became just one trivia notion suspended out of time in the moment Sakura's wet skin mixed with the warmth of his lips and tongue as his slick organ skimmed along her inner slender thigh riding up, purposely avoiding to touch her in places that burned to be pampered by him and God... Every single inch of her was a feast of honey, milk and vanilla, being more syrupy than nectar and sillier than pure snow.

His unoccupied hand started a sojourn of its own, because he was unable to think straight and calculate even movement ad he normally did, massaging its way along her lower abdomen with the help of his fingertips drumming along her stomach, passing her bellybutton where a latent volcano was building underneath, then skimming along her ribs tickling her with a graze more delicate than a whisper in the dark.

Traipsing sensually up her slender body Sasuke let his palms wrap around her supple breast in a newly discovered fascination and squeezing it between his long digits, listening to every whimper that traveled from her body in a silent lead which was teacing him how should touch her and he listened closely and carefully, senses exploding in a rush of euphoria.

He was _good_ , _so_ good, so skilled and so amazing and Sakura had absolutely zero idea of how was Sasuke doing it so skillfully since he was capable of lighting her up like incense to burn from the pits of her sacred fire and melt like a candle against his every touch, but it was unbelievable.

His lips against her leg made her hips wind against him helplessly trying to both get away from those tickles fluttering against her body and take more from him, while his hand that was rubbing the plush pert nipple with his thumb gently pulling on it, while his palm was kneading her chest like trying to give form to his own ideal of a woman's beauty, was electrifying.

His fingers felt trapped into an unfamiliar route where he was rating and exploring every inch, every crevice and every delineation of her body, giving the same unabashed attention to each part, caressing her bony shoulders and collarbone and molding along her cheek and jaw, touching her in ways that only an affectionate lover would so and even better, him.

Sakura`s pulse melted against the effervescence of her heart's unleashed beats. When Sasuke let his palm travel from her swan arched neck sensually down the outline of her cleavage, he felt the rhythm of her heart thumping under his hand like a vivacious piano melody overflowing on the highest keys of a love song, percussion under his fingertips while he was exploring her.

This was the most pastoral thing in the entire world –to listen to her heart and body calling to _him_ , pleading and begging in silent desperation and at the same time it was the most difficult thing in the world to be able to decipher the missives that she sent to him, communicating in a world was language which was more expressive than anything he has ever heard or felt.

He could see that she was so pure, so unpolished and so lost in those sensations that were most likely alien to her but at the same time her own body knew what it wanted and it wanted _him._

Oh God what was _he_ doing and more importantly _why_ couldn`t he stop?

That notion of dominance filled Sasuke`s masculine pride and ego to the epitome, knowing that he had such a power over her and this time, the Priestess didn't have weapons to resist him , he was **corrupting** her but at the same time her innocence was superior to his predominant darkness.

Suddenly everything about their touches felt _more_ this just physical response to the nature, to the universe itself everything around turned from a suspended witness to a part of them, of their touches, of their kisses –of everything.

Stars were sewed in the Priestess' glossy orbs, the luminous rays of the shimmering fireflies around added a tinge of warm gold on her pearl skin making her appear like a nymph in human form or a Geddes from Mount Olympus as an ancestral gift for him to use it in a symbolic delicate way to _atonement._

His entire body became more alert to the smallest of details that would normally not register into his mind and if his Sharingan eye would catch it, then his mind would quickly eschew from it and brush it off and deeming it as unimportant but not anymore.

Not _now_.

No matter what, he must remain committed to the notion of listening to the woman under him mewling and struggling to find the coherence between the tortuous superabundance of tastes, enhanced sensations in her fingertips and along every curve of her body and the vision that stopped perceiving what it normally did and only focusing on the man above him and his hypnotic eyes.

And it felt beyond amazing and delicious by definition. Even someone who kept his feelings entombed within the vault of his chest, burning inside every fragment of a flickering light that might resurface with the black flames guarding him from commitment, reveled into the sensation of tasting a woman and inwardly praising its indescribable beauty. His tongue and lips traced, kissed and nipped her thigh, the skin of her sensitive folds and she arched against him in the same helpless plea and blind passion.

Don`t stop.

The virgin blush in her elegant cheeks filled like a cup of sparkling red wine betraying how demure and unsophisticated she was in the art of interacting with a man as a woman and not as a benefactor or a Priestess, but in Sasuke`s eyes she has never been more beautiful and elegant than in this moment.

And suddenly everything fell into a torrid plethoric immixture of a delicacy and sweetness that wasn't _enough_ ; greediness combined with his thirst to feel her skin under his fingertips and steal that dulcet along with every moan that would travel from her lips, as she will undulate under him in sync with him over and over again and all through the night, beyond physical barriers and perception about morality and sin.

Sasuke wanted _more_ of her in ways undefined and inexpressible, but at the same time an inner calling that materialized like a shadow spanning from his fingertips and guiding him to touch her in places that stole the flow of oxygen from her lungs and fill her blood and vessels with adrenaline and electric jolts traversing her spine and limbs in waves of pleasure, somehow knowing exactly what he should do.

His rational mind tried in vain to translate it and process it but Sasuke pandered into those feelings that were coming from the _man_ inside him, without thinking as a shinobi.

Sasuke came to realize in that moment that he was both an Uchiha shinobi and an Uchiha _man_.

Ration became just a ripple against the silent water immixing with the quiescence around that draped them in a mantle of the night sewed in billion lights, seemingly to percolate along Sakura`s glowing skin and trap in every droplet of perspiration that streamed from her temples to the cord of her swan neck and floating along the curve of her cleavage down her abdomen, sensually and that was the path that Sasuke`s lips took as he purposely avoided tapping his hot mouth against her core and pressed them against her belly button instead.

He kept on taking fugitive brushes over her moist folds and lips but did not lingered too much there albeit the peachy and tangerine fragrance of her drove him animalistic because he simply could not focus on a single spot; he was thirsty for _all_ of her. And plus, something into the back of his mind let him know that just orally pleasuring her without diverting his attention to her entire body will make her feel awkward and uncomfortable and will not suffice to bring her to the swell of pleasure.

He didn`t exactly know all of that, but he _felt_ it.

* * *

"S-Sasu-ke… s–" Was it his name the word that failed her and left her breathing his name in pure enrapturing torture, or another missive forwarded to him, because decrypting letters became an impossible task while Sasuke`s lips were skimming along her finely defined abdomen muscles, aided by his abrasive tongue leaving glistening trails of saliva against her skin and his touch literarily burned her mind and body, lighting her up until she felt like burning coal.

His ravenous palms fought comfort under the elegant bones of her shoulder blades, massaging her back that was tiffany and fragile, perfectly fitting into his arms, while his other hand was kneading her hipbone and sensually rolled along the back of her thigh to cup her ass, massaging and feeling her yielding skin pamper his fingertips, collecting her into a very intimate embrace, with an unusual delicacy that he wasn't supposed to be exuding but at the same time, the more tiffany her siren body felt against his touch, the more caring and gentle his body dictated him to be, like someone was maneuvering them with invisible ropes like marionettes in the hands of Destiny`s biggest Play, leading them to fell prey to that erotic rhythm.

Kami, his lips and hands skating along every curve of her body felt like Paradise. Every caress of his expert hands betrayed polished inborn skill and a grace that probably only an august Uchiha possessed, because no matter what sharp detour his digits took, becoming bolder and more comfortable with the patterns of her body, stroking her gently and belatedly, like taking his sweet time to paint the colors of every inch of her body on a blank canvas inside his mind, akin to painting the image of spring in bloom or an abundant golden autumn Paradise, was out of that world.

There were no sufficient words in the world to describe those incandescent sentiments that turned her into an effulgent meteor shooting along the horizons, burning over and over again and melting against him like she was supposed to belong into the nest that his muscular arms created, as they enveloped her into both a protective shield and a loving sign of affection.

 _This is more than lust,_ it transcended the realm of sheer desire and turned into something beyond physical perception and Sakura felt it too.

She perceived it sound and clear, even though it remainedjust a nameless emotion playing on the tip of her tongue.

Her own digits were quivering like a delicate lotus flower floating along the surface of the water, as she had no idea how to react or if she should respond to him, albeit her body was suspiring to _feel_ him ripple under her palm and run her demure hands along every sculpted plates of his delicious body, thinking about the body of a man in ways that she has never before; dark and erotic, abundant and poetic, yenning for a taste of him in pure carnal covet.

As a Priestess who has been apart from sin and temptation, Sakura had no idea why and when has she fell prey to such indecent fantasies, but at the same time there was something incredibly _natural_ happening between them, bringing her closer to Sasuke that she has ever been to anybody else and the uneven pace of his heartbeat or the dilated vitreous look in his foggy pupils assured her of his sincerity and the fact that he too surrendered to something that slipped like water through of his fingers.

Embarrassment and shyness were unnecessary and dropped on a minimum level, albeit Sakura felt strange to be so nude in front of a young man who was also splendidly posing in his Adam suit and holding her so flush against him letting her feel every single curve, swell and crest of his carved body grinding and brushing against her own and that was the reason why Sakura could allow herself to _relax_ for a bit and rack her brain at what shall she do next.

Her right hand tapped the murky soil beside her head and wrapped her digits into the lush vegetation, tucking on the blades of the grass in a vain attempt to cling to an anchor and remained into reality, but it was then when Sasuke realized what was missing between them; mutual interaction.

His lips traipsed along her tummy and chest up to the junction of her shoulder and higher hotly suckling on her pulse and stealing every percussion of her throbbing vein with every stroke and graze of his teeth against her silky skin, stopping himself from tasting her skin with much difficulty and he brought his face atop of hers, foreheads nearly touching.

Ebony moist bangs fell elegantly around their close profiles veiling them into a lustrous raven cascade as they tickled the tip of Sakura`s nose and cheeks, groaning huskily upon her lips. "Touch me."

Something at the back of his mind screamed at her to run her hands along Sasuke`s body in the same unhindered feverish like he was exploring and memorizing her own, and, not even waiting for a reaction which came in staccato slow motions of her fluttering her heavy eyelids half open to focus on him and register his whispered words, Sasuke brought his own hand atop Sakura`s fist into the grass, unclasping it from the nature`s gifts and, lacing their fingers together.

Gazing throuhg a maze of thick lust and desire, Sakura murmured to him while taking in how warm his palm was pressing against her own. "Sasuke I..." The Uchiha brought their intertwined hands atop his chest not wanting to hear her weak reply and kept them latched onto his chiseled pectoral until she glimmered twice to alleviate the lustful veil that fell upon her lustrous eyes.

"Don`t be afraid. You can explore and _feel_ me too as you please so don`t hesitate, it is all right." If those missives that he half blew like an incandescent zephyr against her face cajoling her were considered sweet talk or dirty talk, Sasuke had no idea but surprisingly he didn't feel like an idiot saying something like this to her.

On the contrary, it felt like he was the tutor of an elegant dancer teaching her the art of pouring her inner _passion_ into her moves, entwined into that sensual tango with him and find the inner rhythm that would automatically propel them into the den of enrapture and euphoria. "Don`t be so shy with me. This is only between _us_ and no one else."

Somehow, Sakura understood the concept behind her captor`s laconic meaningful response; the incredible intimacy transpiring between the two of them meant that he was brushing off their own identities in the society`s eyes and he will not _judge_ her for giving in to him, not even if she was a pure Priestess which was supposed to remain pure and untouched and his words, betraying so much _care_ soothed her and made the washing guilt that she was feeling fade into the distance as a lost whisper in the dark.

She was so afraid to mimic his gestures and touch him so boldly, not only because inexperience combined with her prudish mannerism but also because it was kind of impossible to find coherence and strength to move her limbs along his sculpted muscles when a paralyzing pleasure made her both narcotized, benumbed and yet so vivid and so alive.

The rubicund haired young woman felt heavy like growing a pair of iron wings; there was a cluster within her inner muscles travelling from her belly between her thighs which made her squirm under him in blind desperation to be smoothened and the moisture she felt into her core dripped with every of Sasuke`s touches, strokes or kisses.

Somehow, Sasuke realized that only using his hands to brush and sojourn along her diaphanous curves might feel intrusive, possessive and more impersonal, so he used his lips to cup her breasts, taste her lips, stroke her cheeks and jaw or nipple on her chin and shoulders giving his caresses a very sensual and more comfortable resonance; and it felt amazing.

He could clearly define everything that was precipitating her clouded mind through the warmth and perspiration of her palm as it held on his own a little bit too tight as if clutching on a lifesaver and he slowly detangled his digits from her own, leaving her palm to linger upon his chest.

His heartbeat`s percussions and the uneven high rhythm even fazed _her_ and for a moment, finding the same cadence in his thumping organ akin to hers made Sakura feel an emotional connection into their resonance like never before; feeling something that _he_ too felt was intense and let her know that maybe this time, Uchiha was not in so much control and in his element like usually, and that wasn't intimidating her anymore.

Somehow, Sasuke knew what she was feeling and why was she so shy in communicating with him like this and respond, and, as a man and a shinobi who got a taste of her wisdom and strength, he found it very captivating that the Priestess had this incredible duality and preserved such unpolished raw sparkling innocence as a woman, but he absolutely _craved_ to feel her touches on him.

He somehow got a virtual taste of what it implied to force someone into this act and it paled in comparison to the rapturous sentiments and sensations of having her to feel for him and correspond to his touches.

The Priestess gazed into those beautiful obsidian eyes from behind the myriads of lucent layers of blissful shades of emerald entwined with amber and tea, and her look alone has made his muscles twitch and his body fill with blood and adrenaline.

Her look was everything that a man like him reveled into; domesticated and obsequious on just the right dosage to preserve the sensual manly dominance over her but not enough to turn her into a malleable brainless marionette with no personality of her own fawning over him.

A darker shade of glossy viridian that collided with her purity emphasized the amount of feelings that Sakura poured into every single tap of her fingers, silently pleading for something that she couldn't name nor did she know the meaning of, letting the last Uchiha see right through her without hiding herself in the bit exposing her mind and her _heart._

She was scared, she was shy and inexperienced, she felt guilty and remorse for not being able to preserve the mandatory asceticism and refrain from desiring and craving for a man the way she did, burning with the desire to be touched, to be felt, to be _pleasured_ along with something _more_ profound that she was silently asking from him and he wasn't sure whether his heart in this moment felt shielded enough to remained _unperturbed_ by it.

Feelings... precious gemstones carved deeply into the pits of earth, rare and indescribable beautiful in their pure raw unpolished shimmering were disseminating from Sakura`s eyes as well as from every inch of her warm body in abundant rich colors and melodies and trying to reach him. Her thoughts that filled the space between them were contrasting to his warning beforehand –not to fall in _love_ with him– and Sasuke noticed for a fact that she too was stubborn and not listening to what he said.

He couldn't not notice that Sakura was trying to reach _him_ and mold that distance between them into a statue resembling love in the most organic way, untouched and uncorrupted, simple, primal and yet so delicate and suave. It was just obvious from the way she was reacting to him, from the plea whirling inside her warm soothing eyes, in the docile way that her body welcomed him to cup her into his arms, trembling within the folds of cashmere strokes that his digits wrapped her with.

Lips filled with roses in bloom and violets entombing sensual love in rich forms and the sumptuous taste of dark cherries, strawberries and honey, bruised by the strokes of his own lips massaging and tasting them, murmuring words to him that brushed past him with no sounds, only emotion.

And she _did_ respond. Timidly like a mother tending the crown of her newborn baby`s forehead, delicate and refined like maneuvering fine English porcelain, Sakura brought her palms upon Sasuke`s chest and grazed him with the gentlest touches that only her grace could evoke, burning him from the moment when her fingertips started to dance along the planes of his sculpted torso like designing intricate fractals along his skin.

Deliberately elegant and slow Sakura was tracing the contours of every scar that smeared the alabastrine skin of Sasuke`s body observing how they only augmented his ravishing beauty, adding masculinity and power to his perfection and emphasizing his humanity letting her know that those scars were tokens of _vulnerability_ which was secluded underneath the veneering of his invulnerable aura, adding humanity to the image of his surreal paramount.

Every contour, every peak of Uchiha`s chest and abdomen felt like the work of art of the finest sculptor. He was so tender to the touch, so alive, his body was exuding a magnetizing warmth that summoned every inner voice of womanhood inside her trying to steal from that hotness, every defined muscle betrayed beauty and intensive training and playing in perfect harmony with his high aristocratic features.

Breaths were getting stuck halfway her lungs while Sakura let her palms wander along his body and Sasuke only gazed down at her through half lidded hurricane eyes, not breaking the electric quiescence between them and allowing her to becomemore comfortable around him and turn the concept of a man`s beauty and evoking passion into something palpable that was _within_ her reach.

He let her explore his body while his hands were brushing along her hips and running along her thighs, slowly, in torpid caresses which stirred the voltages rolling along her spine to wash over her in pleasure.

Sakura was graceful like a dragonfly landing on a lotus flower and savoring the warmth of the sun, reflecting its lights like a rainbow.

Slowly, Sakura got enough courage to venture even lower, patting his washboard rippling abdomen, only focusing her mind on the man before him and having a keen eye for details and exploring beauty, she couldn't help the dryness of her mouth when Sasuke`s body stirred under her touch, akin to making a flickering flame burst to life.

She didn't dare to touch past the last range of muscles framing his narrow but sharp hips it being the first time when she got in contact with a man like this and it felt foreign and alien to her making her get scared about how she should touch him or where, so she took a detour along his back and brushed over his ribs and the flexing back muscles, nearly smiling in delight at how he was fitting into her embrace as she let her palms glissade under his arms and cupping his shoulders, then running her digits along his sensual spine, vaguely noticing how lissome he was and how defined.

A buoyant feeling churned inside his chest when Sasuke pressed his lips against her in an unanticipated searing kiss, cupping her lower lip between his own and suckled on them.

His tongue, slick, warm and wet rolled along the contour of her mouth, tasting the exquisite fruity fragrance of her skin and she instinctively opened up her mouth to let him glissade inside and explore her.

She let the tip of her own organ stroke against his own in a way so demure and yet so incredibly erotic and _delicious,_ flickering and dancing upon his own while Sasuke angled his chin to deepen their kiss and start an eager sojourn, brushing over her pearl row of teeth then spanning along her own and sliding down her throat, letting her get drunk and satiate from their combined saliva glistening between their lips, fusing together in a new recipe of aphrodisiac. His lips felt divine and his taste sweet, spicy, chocolate and peppermint and it was intoxicating.

The strokes of his lips twined her into that sensual ballet as he took his time into fully tasting her in lackadaisically deep brushes and suckling of her lips, inviting her to correspond and suddenly a rhythm between their mouths fell into a romantic concerto with their grinding bodies and trembling hearts. More moans of ecstasy were stolen by Sasuke`s burning kiss while his palm that was tantalizing the soft skin of her knees and calves glissaded up to press to the ridged front of her lace folds rubbing against her swollen clit.

Her hands werw massaging his scalp, playing into the naughty ebony locks at the back of his nape and running along his neck, then kneading his chest and abdomen, tapping along the lean fibers of his biceps and digging into his herculean shoulders while Sakura rolled her hips against his touch, equally enjoying the attention that her body got from him at the same time seemingly to adore his sculpted arms in comical fascination.

Sakura wouldn`t lie, she loved Sasuke`s arms as much as she loved his dark eyes. They exuded of an irresistible virility and protection. Her merry lips licking his own turned Sasuke`s running blood into a zealous invigorating pool.

She felt divine, her taste percolated along his mouth as his throat felt dry and at the same time delighted by suckling her tongue inside his mouth and letting her warm saliva satiate an immeasurable thirst that surged along his chest and tummy, residing into his pulsating member, making him nearly go savage, but he will be damned if he broke that pace in lieu of an inelegant and brutal moment of halfway pleasure, no.

Sasuke wanted everything from her; every inch, every moan rippling along her lips, every touch and every breath with every fragment of lucidity and control.

Somewhere between love and lust there was a universe of unexplored possibilities, ones that were taking a form and a name translated in what they both felt but refused to acknowledge.

"Sasuke–" His mouth sealed her own and stole the unspoken words from her again, being stirred by the way his name sounded when she was the one saying it between half a pant and half a moan, and suddenly Sasuke had the unexplainable desire to hear her _scream_ it while he rocked the pleasure out of her body over and over again, until no one would make the precise contours of their bodies.

A visceral need bubbled between her legs and making her muscles twitch and convulse pumping blood and hormones along her body and nesting between the cleft of her thighs –a place where Sasuke`s index finger slided easily inside stroking her while rubbing his thumb between her folds drowning into her milky juices– being unaware of the fact that explicit desires were formulated into Sasuke`s lustful mind too, but and unlike her, he had no restraint of sorts to imagine himself piercing her deeply.

Even overlooking the fact that she was a Priestess and as much as in self-denial he might be –and he was not, Sasuke didn't find it repulsive to get close to this woman, unlike many others who not only didn't manage to make him feel anything remotely appealing or sexual, but he avoided contact with them as much as he could simply because it didn't feel right; it did not feel natural.

But this was not the case here with the Priestess, no, on the contrary the more she was moving her lips against his own, massaging his lower lip and rolling her tongue under him, silently asking permission to explore by herself, the more fitting and pastoral it felt to taste her.

His body _reacted_ so right and so good to the touch of this amazing kunoichi with her bright incandescent eyes which started to hypnotize and mesmerizing him.

Her touch felt good, she was warm, silkier than cashmere and he granted the permission to enter his mouth and taste him in return with her delicate and curious strokes and he almost smirked between their lip lock at her shenanigans; no matter what she did, even writhing under him so naked and so exposed, she still preserved her cuteness and typical fragility of a Virgin Maiden and that only made Sasuke desire her even more.

His left hand that was shaving along her ribs tickling her in a newfound pleasure to tease her combining those frizzy feelings of wanting to squirm and laugh with the intense ardent pleasure of having his hands meander along her body, was playing the strings of her heart rate like a choir of violas and harps, turning her entire body into a passionate melody.

Slowly, letting the Priestess feel his digits ripple under the swell of her rounded breast, brushing his fingertips along its milky contour, Sasuke let his palm caress its way along her chest and tummy, passing her belly button and kneading her rounded hipbone with the back of his palm, he molded it lower to cup her inner thigh and slowly part her legs even more, adjusting his frame between her legs in a more comfortable position.

The response of their touching bodies was immediate. He encountered a mild reticence from her part wen the humid cool air hit her bare sensitive skin and made her conscious that she was a naked woman revealing her splendor to a handsome enemy for the first time in her life, but another voluptuous kiss coming from Sasuke as he dragged his lips from nipping her arched chin to seal her unspoken acceptance with his own, disarmed her and making her inhibitions subdue to make place for another sort of feelings to effulge through her body and mind; because she was present there, in mind, heart and body, realizing where was that going and how it will end but at the same time she felt helpless and powerless to react in any other way than letting Sasuke carry her along those streams of convoluted feelings.

"Ah!" Sakura couldn't help but moan in surprise and bliss when Sasuke`s body touched her so delicious and so _right_ in the moment when he came to rest between her opened thighs and suddenly, her shyness paled somewhere at the back of her mind and hormones and feelings smothered lucidity.

Her digits cupped the bones of his shoulders, digging the moon crests of her nails into his alabaster skin and leaving angry red marks into her skin when a violent wave of electricity nearly made her soar. This time Sakura silently prayed that Sasuke will not tease her anymore and stop giving her those undescribable sensations with his wicked mouth and fingers touching her passionately.

She felt him hard, lean, masculine and exuding an incredible virility as he grazed his half erect member along her silky rose petals, getting rinsed by the moisture glistening along her lower lips and a feral groan broke at the base of his throat.

"Damn!" A sensation reminiscent to being strike by his own Chidori washed along Sasuke`s spine and nearly sent his blood into an explosion of energy, burning his muscles and mind when he realized just how soft and incredibly wet she was; all because of _him_.

It felt better than being metamorphosed into snow and floating along the velvety sky.

Everything into the confinements of the Uchiha`s lower abdomen burned him, clasped and throbbed him in need to feel her stretch around him and cluster to his body like the ultimate ship sailing to the island of bliss. His exhales came in ravaged short puffs highlighting the amount of pressure that he felt against his body and his senses were equally working in overdrive to keep up with all those sensations churning inside him, so ardently and unhinged.

His ravishing raw beauty was reminiscent to a feral lion cornering its prey, but the look in his eyes albeit demanding and domineering, was also so luminous, so incandescent and burning with repressed desire that was now expelled through his every pore.

Fine–combing his hair with a trembling hand as his own muscles were throbbing painfully demanding release and spilling droplets of twinkling perspiration from his rich mane, Sasuke downcast his orbs on the tiffany creature beneath him, finding it almost cute how she was still timidly brushing her hands around his back never going lower but she was taking tantalizing baby steps into venturing along the curve of his muscled ass, smirking softly at it for how self-effacing she was albeit her body borrowed the radiance of million fireflies swarming into the maze of the lush forest at midnight, betraying what she secretly craved for.

 _Him._

Placing a short steamy kiss against her parted lips and cutting the flow of oxygen with an explosive molding of yielding lips meeting in a torrid fusion of withhold yearnings, Sasuke glissaded his lips along Sakura`s chin, placing bumble bee kisses along the column of her throat as she arched her neck against him, tracing her chest, the serpentine valley between her supple breasts, feeling her heart tick life and desire into his mouth, stroking her skin with alternative kisses and long licks of his abrasive tongue all the way down to her tummy.

"S-Sasuke–" A pair of desperate digits latched into his tufts of ebony locks when he encircled his tongue around the bundle of her belly button stirring a restless fluttering inside her bursting like million butterflies swarming in jolly spirals to take shelter from her belly to her chest and making her racing heart coat with a sweet effervescence.

"–I-I am… t-this is–" She was stuttering and she knew it but words fell prey to a built up tension amassing into the depths of her core in a monolith of immense pleasure ready to burst and throw her into nirvana and make her soar like a shooting star, making her unable to voice out any fragment of reticence.

She couldn't resist this. Uchiha was absolutely irresistible and whatever was happening between them caught her unprepared and completely out of guard.

No one thought her how to suppress what she was feeling inside and to this scale and no one told her what weapons to use and fight him back, because everything that Sakura was coherent enough to do, was to fall into sync with Sasuke`s body language, listen to his own heart trying to spell a name that he didn't know and plead with her to respond and not reject him.

This man was so lonely and deemed as a cold stone assassin with petrified heart and suppressed emotions, but he was also so warm and tender with her like purposely letting her know how incredibly lonely he felt and how he pinned to be _accepted_ by someone, understood and even _loved_.

"Sasuke… don`t–" His name broke like the climax of a bass guitar Jazz melody when his lips openly kissed their way between her thighs as he used his hands to wreathe around her inner thighs, kneading them with the back of his warm palms and spreading her wide open for him to see her closely and unravel her of all her secrets.

His onyx orbs burned in pure carnal madness when he took her in, breathed her in in all the splendor of her ineffable feminine beauty in the way he never looked at a woman before and it felt indescribable.

His throat contorted as his hot breath fanned upon her silky skin, creating a mad contrast between the air`s humid temperature and his exhales and she shivered under his touch, burning in anticipation and never daring to look down and see him nested between her legs in a stance that was so explicit that should be illegal and sinful.

He never permitted her to even fathom the idea of stopping him now that he had her submissive under his touch, because the temptation and savage thirst was so ardent to resist.

He had no idea where to start exploring or how he should touch her, but the softness of her filigree body tinged by the virgin shade of rosy tulips unfolding before his hungry lustful stare like a lotus sprinkled with fresh water tempted him to flicker the tip of his tongue against her soft petals which took the shape of a cupid`s arrow and sheltering her glistening clit coated in her oozing juices and begging for someone to stimulate it and he did.

This time, Sasuke was seeing it with his own eyes what his digits were caressing and her beauty strike him till bones. She was _beautifu!_

He pressed his lips in an unabashed hunger upon her lace petals and laved her with long strokes of his tongue as his lips suckled on the pearl buddle of nerves and her reaction skyrocketed from gasping breathless moans to short cries. This time, he didn`t go timid and soft like the first time when he has seen her for the first time nude and wet for him. No, now he was hungrily suckling on her lips and the hood of her clit, burying his face into her folds and nourished from her body thirstily without any boundaries.

"Ah!" It was his hold around her legs and his carved body nuzzled between her legs the things that prevented Sakura from shooting up and fly like the canopy of vegetation and soil burned her, turning into lava, trashing into Sasuke`s arms.

"Oh my Kami–" Everything around her burst into a frenzy of fireflies and colors fused with the air becoming tropical and calescent and she felt part of the Universe as she turned into stardust, because nothing in the world made her feel the way he did. He got even better than the first time –bettter with every passing stroke and now Sakura understood the genius of his Uchiha blood –it took so little time for them to reach sublime.

Her nails grazed the cords of his sculpted neck descending to his collar bones and gripping his shoulders in a vain attempt to feel something terrestrial that she could recognize, because the magnetizing sensation of turning into everything and nothing at all, dematerializing from her carcass and swinging along the limbs of pure pleasure was too incredible to resist.

His lips were stroking her folds with ample brushes, suckling on her swollen clit with so much jubilance and desire, sending jolts of bliss along her entire body, surging from her inner walls to her lower back and tummy, then burning along the pillar of her spine and praying her limbs and suddenly, the unexplainable feeling of being drenched of energy and yet invigorated resurfaced like bubbling tingles and tickles that filled her skin with shivers and she squirmed under him like a siren glissading through the water.

Sakura`s body spanned to Saske in a silent coveting plea to grant her something that she couldn't name, but the need, the desire, the visceral lust exploding between them in blinding effervescence was undeniable electric.

Sakura tucked on Sasuke`s rich hair and forced him to press his naughty lips further into her soft body in helpless need for alleviation and he happily complied.

Sliding his hands from the back of her knees where they roamed to caress her –finding a spot that made her legs wobble and jitter like bells– under the swell of her ass, the Uchiha hoisted her hips up to give him better access and traced his tongue along her ivory lips, savoring the taste of her and not comprehending how was it possible for something to be reach the paramount of sweetness and delicacy, but then again, this Priestess wasn't a normal young woman. She was someone special; very _special._

The body of a cherub and kissed by the eternal untouchable womanhood of an elegant sylph entombed a heart sewed with snowflakes and diamonds, being as pure as she was astonishingly divine.

Helplessly, Sasuke savored the richness of _his_ Priestess` delectable body, reveling into the creamy skin as milky juices dripped from her body in silent reward for his expert touches and the fragrance of tangerines and apricots coated in honey and milk has blended into an untouchable aphrodisiac; and the sinner that he was, chased away from Paradise has been grated the privilege to have a cup of her ambrosia for free.

Sasuke was well aware that by the way her body was trashing into his touch, convulsing with every single caress of his lips and tongue against her lower folds and lips, the Priestess was sending him a very clear message that she needed _him_ in the most primitive way known and what he did was suddenly not enough.

She wanted him as a _man_ , as a _simple_ man who was most likely the _first_ one to touch her like this and that notion of her being pure and preserving her purity in such a tainted world stained by corruption and ambitions, was emotional and made something stir inside his heart as his member twitched between her knees, begging to be inside her warmth.

"Sa-Sasuke… I n-need… something is happening with–" Her voice was strained and strangled and filled with heavy lust as it was still caressed by the grace and elegance of an angel and it sounded like the most erotic thing that Sasuke has ever heard. His name being breathed and moaned by her like this was better than a choir of angels in Elysium.

She felt it sound and clear building up like a bubbling mini supernova in the pits of her stomach preparing to explode and send her to cloud nine but the key to open up the vault and let her come alive was at Sasuke.

Sakura didn't know what to do anymore because her body felt like burning her, she was tingling and tickling all over, every single cell of her body was squirming in delight and mindlessly and without giving it too much of a thought, she detached her right hand from Sasuke`s rich hair that she was pulling a little bit too harsh and cupped her breast pinching her tauten wrinkled nipple with her forefinger and thumb, hoping to alleviate that tension in her muscles and the prickling of her skin.

She would have never imagined herself in such a leecherous position, _pleasuring_ herself in front of a man but God... she couldn`t help herself.

Her head was tossed backwards into the ground as her coral hair was spilled like a bride`s veil decorating the damp viridian grass and enhancing the erotic image of a night romance residing into the den of Mother`s nature most mesmerizing creation and making her resemble a nymph of the forest.

Sakura was squirming under him and it was in the moment when Sasuke caught the sight of her pleasuring herself by massaging her breast has he felt like his own lower regions were ready to explode.

He could see it on the Priestess` face which was contorted in a half pleasured and half frustrated frown and the irregular moans that escaped her parted gasping for air lips, that she tried in vain to find alleviation but of course that her touch on her body was nowhere near how _his_ touches made her feel.

 _God_... Sasuke nearly came right on the spot by the ego boost he took when realizing that she was depended to him for pleasure and he has been successful in corrupting her and making her step into his tainted world even for a moment like this; she submerged into sin because he got her addicted to those dark bodily callings, but what he overlooked was the fact that something more than pure physical attraction and lust transcended into the den of sentiments and that was the reason why the fact that she, as a Priestess was sleeping with a man, wasn't sin.

From the moment when both of them unconsciously let the daintiest fragment of _feelings_ exude from their touches and sent them to the other, it became more than just desire.

A calloused hand traipsed sensually along her abdomen and glissaded under her own to gently remove her hand that was trying to conjure the same sensations as before and she immediately made room for him to cup her breast and knead it with a touch that had her moan throatily and hotly like a hurt lioness when he started to massage it and pull on her pert nipple, rubbing the tip of his thumb over it until it went harder than crystal.

He was far more skilled than she was.

"Oh My God, Sasuke–" The most colloquial line has travelled past her lips as she surrendered to him entirely.

His palm caressing her mound with a touch that only _he_ posessed massaged her chest in just the right way, while his teeth were grazing along her moist folds, combining the hot saliva dripping from his tongue and her milky juices turned her into steaming hot chocolate. Her hips felt heavy like she had a bounder inside her body and she was wetter and slicker than a jellyfish on the burning sand, craving to return to the sea.

Sasuke`s lips stroked her in ways that were too erotic to be put into words but at the same time, it felt beyond divine and so very intimate.

Her hands wrapped around the hand that was playing with her breast, sliding along his forearm and holding him to her body like never wanting him to stop touching her and maybe trying to make sure that all of what she was feeling was real and tangible and not the cruelest sweetest dream.

The Priestess whimpered like a white dove trying to fly against the storm when Sasuke trailed his lips along her clit, suckling greedily on it, then sliding along her lace silky folds that resembled a beautiful pattern of a fretwork technique, riding up to her belly and showering her ivory pearl skin with butterfly kisses, knocking the wind out of her lungs.

Inhaling properly felt laborious and unnecessarily; Sasuke was breathing life through her in the moment when his lips found herself in a blinding helpless desire to being kissed by this man.

She did the most audacious thing by coiling her ankles around his waist to cup his body against her and held him thigh with her long gazelle legs, straddling his hips with her toned thighs and locking her legs behind his back, bodies grinding in all the right angles and creating the most intense foreplay that had them both share a hot bemoan between their sealed lips.

Sasuke`s left hand travelled between their bodies, traipsing between her legs and mirrored the strokes of his lips while continuing to flip the position of their tongues inside her mouth, rubbing her folds gently and she shivered visibly in pure delight. "S-Sasuke... Sasuke please–"

She broke the kiss breathless fighting for air and coherence when his name trembled in silent plea from her bruised lips. "Do you like this?" He blew into her ear as he nipped on the yielding cartilage of her ear shell and immediately her spine filled with shivers traversing her and residing into the already boiling knot between her legs.

He was rubbing his long digits between her nether lips in a way that she couldn't define, but when he pressed his thumb hard against her clit, she arched against him in sheer desperation, squeezing her lids shut and nearly made him go deaf as her light high soprano voice vibrated through his body and eardrums.

"AHH!" Her hips jerked upwards when something coursed over her and made her feel more alive than ever in paralyzing rolls of pleasure. Amazingly how she was reacting to him.

Smirking he titillated her teasingly. "You _do_ like the way I touch you." He knew exactly what Sakura wanted because he craved for it just as bad, but this time he won't be the brutal beast whose behavior was a shame for any real man and cause her pain, no. This time, he will make this experience something that she won't ever forget or even dare to _deny._

Curiously Sasuke had to test the friction between them and see just how incredibly pure she was, Sasuke let his index finger move between her lace lips, rubbing her gently around the elastic cartilage around her thigh opening then slowly inserting two digits inside her and followed her reaction closely memorizing every flinch of her body, trying to depict what would cause her pleasure or pain.

Sakura stiffened when he entered her hot passageway and nearly rolled his onyx orbs at the feeling of her, imagining how would she feel around his hard member when he pierced her with his body and not just his teasing fingers.

She was so tight, her purity stood between his digit and the depths of her inner body when Sasuke felt her yielding barrier under his touch, slowly and gently traversing it and probing how elastic it was and unfortunately or her, she was almost too innocent to be pierced by something hard and almost brutal, realizing that she will have to bear a certain level of pain.

Seeing that she stopped brushing her lips against his own, Sasuke looked from his hand to her face to see how she remained suspended in half bliss and half fright, probably feeling completely uncomfortable by that alien sensation that she was feeling and something into his masculine genes gave him an impulse to communicate with her and let her hear his voice and assure her that he was one hundred percent _lucid_ and conscious of what he was doing.

Assure her that he didn't mean to cause her pain like back in the forest and his intentions were nowhere near resembling a brute`s action, Sasuke placed a chaste elegant kiss upon her lips, whispering between their kiss huskily and velvety smooth. "You don't have to be so scared to do this with me. To touch me. I will _not_ hurt you."

The way he enunciated every letter of that word in a husky and throatier resonance than normal which was oozing of honesty and she trusted him completely.

Wordlessly, Sakura wrapped her trembling hands around his neck and nodded twice to him, letting her forehead tap against his own and pursing her lips to press another kiss upon his mouth and he didn't protest.

He let her tap his lips in that _personal_ delicate way, cupping his lower one between and grazing over it, with a touch softer than a rose petals` caress.

She was so warm around his finger and so tight. This was the first thing that Sasuke observed while his finger entered her as deep as it would go, probing its way inside, while he responded to her clumsy kiss in torpid strokes of his lips, letting her feel in control over their pace so as she won't feel dominated and invaded by him forcibly.

Sakura arched her back against him to seek for his touch which seemed to be the perfect motion to alleviate all the amassed tension within her inner walls as they throbbed around his digit and her body coated him in milky essences as he retracted it then pumped her again, repeating the motion in a steady slow rhythm.

That newfound power he had over her was fantastic and not because Sasuke was obsessed to dominate or ravage her or see her defeated and submissive and pleading down her knees, but because his hands were capable of creating a world void of any pain and destruction. And that felt stupidly amazing.

His entire body was aching painfully to be inside her, to have her squirm and squiggle under him as he filled her, to have her breath his name upon their kiss, to graze his sweaty skin with her nails deep as red marks were now tattooed along his marble skin, but the endorphins pumped along adrenaline benumbed any pain and only aroused him more.

Her body, her skin, her radiance were cosmic; she was glowing like a mystique creature with the veneer whiter and richer than a white lily's.

She was a fruity exotic cocktail in taste and her perfume was compelling the exuberance and refinement of spring mountain flowers in bloom.

"Mmmm–" Sakura mewled upon Sasuke`s lips when he started to slide his finger in and out of her, silently craving for more of him.

There was a lump like a ball throbbing between her folds and the more his digit rubbed the inside of her abrasive walls, reaching deep inside her, the more it throbbed and burned her body, screaming for something hard and fast enough to quench that salacious thirst and desire that sizzled within her most sacred sweet spots, making her arch against him.

Moist lips were trembling upon his own, licking his mouth in wet strokes as Sakura`s kiss became less focused and more demanding and passionate, being almost desperate and albeit Sasuke didn't know what exactly she was feeling, he could literary feel her body radiating of a scorching hotness as sticky juices were coating his digit as he kept on syphoning her, somehow understanding to move faster and keep going. "You are so hot and so damn _wet_. Is it because of _me_?" Inwardly he knew that it was true but seeing her rubicund cheeks flame in embarassment as she nodded twice to him was making him smirk arrogantly.

Heavens, she was turning into a burning charcoal within his grip and an invisible force probably stirred by the secret language that their wrapped bodies were speaking led him to add a second digit inside her, inwardly marveling at how her body stretched to accommodate the intrusion and focusing on her reaction closely and the reasons was immediate.

She broke the kiss breathless and panting like joggling to the marathon with a heart rate challenging the speed of light pumping through her eardrums and, tapping her cheek against his own, she half screamed and half moaned broken against the shell of his ear.

"S-Sasuke… I–I can`t do... we are not... there is something strong that I feel so _please_ –" The sound of her spellbinding plea nearly had Sasuke relinquish into the sweet oblivion that the beast within him conjured and lost his mind in lust and desire.

Please don`t _break_ me, was Sakura`s unspoken communiqué. She knew she was a sinner in the moment she allowed herself to be touched by him romantically and _spontaneously_.

A mindless princess like hand was running along Sasuke`s chest sliding along his alabastrine skin that was glistening into the night by the burning droplets of sweat, percolating along every curve of his muscles while the other was playing into his stygian locks tucking on them and gasping for air and some control over her erratic senses.

Sakura felt like stepping with bare feet on water without drowning, flowing with an infinite ocean spanning before her eyes, meandering to a direction without a purpose, lightheaded and losing the touch to every tangible thing.

The tremors in her body tuned violent as her muscles were burning and clasping and everything in her lower regions were drenching her in seeping juices rinsing her in burning preparation for something to complete what her body was currently missing; to attach the missing part of the puzzle and never in her life has Sakura felt more incomplete and waiting for something to mend the loneliness and scattered pieces of the puzzle like in this moment.

Sasuke`s digits moving faster and faster inside her were making the bubbling volcano inside the pits of her belly sprinkle lava and wrap her in a calescent effulgence which melted her in a puddle of chocolate, and she had no control over the immense pleasure that was amassing inside her, but she knew that she needed _him_ to find that benumbing release.

And even though she found herself, a Priestess, a representation of purity of both mind and body trapped in such a lascivious carnal position with him being pleasured by a man and moaning his name in desperation for something that she couldn't even name, Sakura couldn't find it in her to ask him to stop –somehow she knew it that if she would have pushed him away, this time Uchiha _would_ have stopped.

But she didn't. Moreover, the way she dared to traverse the unexplored universe of a man`s body entrapped into a delirium without a point of return, running her aimless digits along every muscle, ever peak of his body, adoring the way his fibers seemed to respond and enjoy the attention of her hands on him was a clear indication that she did not want him to stop.

He was touching her in ways that were so forbidden, so sinful, so dark and smeared her to the colors of vice and concupiscent bodily pleasures, like a demon corrupting her to forgo the place in Paradise, give up on wings and become one of the sinners who couldn't refrain from vice.

But _Kami_ his long digits pampering the insatiable need for a man going in and out of her in a steady tempo, becoming better and better in expertly guessing all her sweet spots that had her arch her back and take them more inside her passageway felt so _good!_

Vaguely, Sakura realized that albeit she was definitely not the only woman to do something like this, she couldn't see herself doing it with someone else than Uchiha Sasuke for a reason that was as obvious as it was cosmic and unexplainable.

Giving herself to him like this and allowing him to explore her body required the supreme level of intimacy between a man and a woman and that was definitely not an action to make with anyone else but a very _special_ person.

But it was so natural, so good and so simple to be so docile and trustful when the man kissing her passionately and rubbing his digits along her folds and scissor them inside her in a way that literarily electrified and invigorated her, was Sasuke. And before she could deter the brusque confession to fall from her lips, she susurrated into the whirlwind of his sable hair pressing her chin into the crown of his head. "You are... _beautiful_ Sasuke."

Said curled his fingers inside her body adoring the way she clenched around him as she moaned hotly against his skin fleetingly tensing at the resonance of her missives not expecting her to be so straightforward with him –but at the same time he saw it coming– and breathe to him words that no woman ever said before and definitely not in the way Sakura told them –fondly, sprinkled with feelings and so sincered.

"Oh!" Emerald orbs squeezed shut as her lips were trailing wet kisses along Sasuke`s pulse, finding the same fascination and pleasure in savoring his skin as he previously did, tasting his peculiar poignant spicy fragrance on the tip of her tongue, getting immersed into the combination of all the nature`s stronger elements playing on his smooth skin in a masculine richness.

There was no way that he could resist much seeing and feeling how wet she was for him, how hot and ready to be taken in ways undefined by morals and ration, so Sasuke removed his digits from her body, tapping them against his lips and, curling his tongue around them to savor the sweetness of her skin, slowly and sensually beyond belief, the Uchiha pinned her with a glance so incandescent and intense that Sakura thought she was going to explode at the sexy sight presented.

Smirking upon seeing the signs of embarrassment and shyness blooming like buds of tulips along her rosy Princess cheeks while she focused on him from behind lust coated hyaline eyes, Sasuke`s lips curled into a wide side smirk that stole every breath away and made more juices glisten along her inner lips at how incredibly _hot_ he looked like, despite his explicit action. "Hn, you are indeed a cup of the sweetest ambrosia Priestess."

 _Oh Heavens_ , his voice alone made her tremble and shiver in pure delight upon hearing the dark innuendo in his leathery voice and Sasuke pressed the keys within his chest lower until he reached a perfect alto inflection, coated in leather and velvet mint chocolate, dipping down to let his tongue skate along her lips slowly and sensual, tracing her heart shaped lips and letting her taste herself on his mouth, whispering hotly. "I can't wait to take everything and make _it_ mine."

That conceited possessiveness was so erotic in the context and, adding it to the wild and messy look that he portrayed in the moment, being in total contradiction of how he normally was, stoic, standoffish and extremely composed and preserving elegance without letting any emotion to wash over him, created the most picturesque image of an aphrodisiac.

Sakura wouldn't believe that someone like her could define a man as _sexy,_ but that was a painful underestimation of how Uchiha looked like in that moment; with his silky hair spilled in a disarray manner all over his temples cascading sensually into his equally obsidian eyes and framing the contours of his neck and nape, orbs gleaming like atramentous melting into the flickering of a candle burning alive and totally unleashed, his nude body exuding an unparalleled raw masculine power, so sculpted and bathed in lust and sweat and gleaming under the twinkling stars, with his opaline smooth skin colliding with the striking dark and regal features, made him look like a dark God aiming to charm a mortal woman.

He was _superb_. There was no point in denying the obvious. Not only his looks were gorgeous and defined, but somehow he managed to turn such a graphic action from something remotely sexual into something elegant, intimate, passionate without being vulgar.

Only an Uchiha could still preserve the inborn elegance even in such a context and that was amazing and incredibly delicious. "And the fact that I know how much _you_ want me Priestess makes me go _crazy_ to make you _mine_."

* * *

Capturing Sakura`s lips in an unhinged open kiss, letting their tongues vibrate together in a fulminant melody, Sasuke hovered above her adjusting his stance between her thighs as he used his left hand to massage her breast, flickering his digits upon her perked nipple tantalizing her, then brushing along her ribs sending rippling tickles around her spine and limbs, then kneaded her hipbone briskly before he wrapped his digits around her thigh to keep her legs unfurled, as his hips fitted above her at the perfect angle.

Sakura was too absent from the game to estimate what his next intentions were because his lips against her, the fact that she was too absorbed by everything he did, by how his touches were capable of conjuring fire from under the blanket of pure white _snow_ inside her chest and by how she was submerging into every of his kisses that were getting more explosive and familiar by now.

But it was in the moment when Sasuke guided his painfully hard rock manhood between her lubricious lace petals, slowly letting his dripping ridge pervade through her small entrance stretching her yielding skin to adjust him, has she stiffened under him and broke the kiss whimpering. "N-No wait _wait_ what–"

The look in her eyes metamorphosing from desirous translucent and soaked in bliss to petrified in fear, apprehension and a tinge of panic in a nanosecond flat burned Sasuke`s spine and made him immediately stop, albeit the moment he entered her if only a little his temples exploded and he literarily bit his lower lip to prevent a feral groan to escape his lips when he realized how tight and pure se was and how much he craved to pound inside her like an animal and take her hard and fast without mercy.

But he stopped nevertheless. This time, although he was from the shinobi with so much composure and self-control of his emotions and gestures, Sasuke didn't slammed inside her like he did to her clone into the forest.

And it was only in that moment when his flawless mind did the comparison; the _real_ Priestess was nothing like her substitution.

No, the real her was indescribable _better_. The real deal was capable of knocking the wind out of his lungs and somehow he knew from the way her body reacted and drenched look in her glossy widened begging eyes that Sakura too was capable of making the difference between what the clone conveyed to her and how the real thing felt.

In fact, the clone only conveyed fugitive images and a moment of intense pain like getting burned and immediately retracted her finger from the previous forest experience, but this time they were real, what was transpiring between them was hundred percent real and this was the real her having no escape.

She was scared. Sakura was for the second time in her life apprehensive and so scared and that was the reason why she went paralyzed into Sasuke`s arms when she felt him, as a vigorous strong man, pierce throuhg her sensitive folds and unlock her entrance by inserting his head inside her tantalizingly.

Understanding that what they were about to do implied more than _just_ physical synchronization, a lot of stamina and a smidgen of skill, Sasuke tilted his head to capture her drowsy jade orbs with his own gossamer onyx ones, narrowing them while his mind was stewing about what he should do more to do _it_ right and make her feel at ease with him –her captor, his enemy his darkest desire, her guilty _pleasure_ – so he whispered between harsh pants. "No don't fight me, not this time." She looked him in the eyes grazing her nails deeply along his collar bones, wrapping her hands around his neck, listening to his voice. "It won't be like the first time. I _promise_ that this time…" Glimmering once as those words felt too softly for someone like him to express them, licking the corner of his luscious mouth like trying to recollect his scattered thoughts. "…this time I _will_ be gentle. You can trust me this time. Trust me and _relax_. I want you to feel _all_ of me."

"I am not the type of man to be content with only _half_ it and I am sure that neither are you. Let me have you Priestess. Let _me_ be the first _man_ to–" Her eyes filled with tears more at his words and then when she nodded to him, biting her lower lip as a silent signal for him to glissade inside her even if he was unable to continue his confession –one of those once in a blue moon confessions that she had the priviledge of listening to. The pain escaladed quickly shooting through her body like a sharp arrow. He tore her body in half while he penetrated her thight passageway and words failed to be exchanged between them.

One felt like traversing intoxicated throuhg the tunnel of pure pleasure and euphoria having no control over his senses in bliss, while the other was coursed by a burning pain spritzing throuhg her lower body in a paralyzing laceration of a honed blade and she tensed like a listless statue under him. Kami Uchiha was so gifted as a man and their bodies felt impossible to be connected like this. Her purity almost felt like too much to adjust his girth and too narrow for his well-endowed body to lodge inside her like that.

"S-Sasuke… w-what is happening... why is it hurting s-so badly–" His name burned between smothered tears which she couldn't contain. Genuinely Sasuke felt _sorry_ for her clearly limning the pain burning along her quiverying lips while she nipped on them until they turned a sick color of purple, clearly trying her best not to cry.

She was even more fragile and Sasuke has been bolted by the sensation of virtually **breaking** the wings of **an angel.** Eyelids drenched in pure lust and pleasure fought to stay open as Sasuke`s sable orbs travelled from Sakura`s tortured in pain visage down to where their bodies were trying to connect seeing as burning rivulets of clear claret were leaking from her virgin body along her inner thigh and the view was heavily _symbolic_ –even to someone as pragmatic as him.

The striking shade of sinfully wine collided with the snow of her skin and he truly felt stepping into the shoes of a demon tainting a cherub vaguely trying to imagine who was going catch her when she lost her wings and fell from Paradise with broken wings into his den of beasts. He made her bleed breaking her just like he promised to himself that he will.

And damn it... his victory did _not_ felt as fulfilling as he first imagined it to be, on the contrary it felt _wrong._ Watching her welling in _pain_ and on the verge of crying made something _deep_ ferment inside him almost like resonating to her.

What Sasuke didn't know for a fact was that by breaking her purity, he also unbound her heart from the hinges of her role as a Priestess –he set her free as a woman. "S-Sasuke–" Her broken voice was a zephyr of smothered tears as she whispered to him into the starry night. "I a-am _so_ s-scared." Of everything and not only of the pain as he was deflowering her.

Not surprisingly for a man so perceptive as Uchiha Sasuke, he understood her implication. What would it become of her after that? He managed to corrupt her, to take the purity away from her –her most precious treasure. He had no answer for those words only for the current pain. So guided by instincts Sasuke dipped down his chin and kissed her deeply on her opened mouth, brushing a fallen lock away from her eyes. "Just loosen up and stop pondering over things that don`t have an answer and cannot be predicted. Relax for me and don't push me away."

Somehow he knew that it will eventually get better for her. It _had_ to get better. There must be a reason why people were sleeping with each other every time.

He hardly suspected that they were all masochist in search for pain. Pleasure was bound to come it had to be true what the others were so bragging about. He _will_ definitely make them both have the best of it damn it! He was an Uchiha male –their last _heir_ – so he couldn`t be less skilled and dumber than the rest.

Heck if morons like Kiba and Suigetsu were supposedly _masters_ in bedding women and give them the time of their lives, then he could definitely be even _better_ than them. Oh, how his Uchiha inflated ego was bubbling inside him like a latent volcano threatening to erupt.

Fighting against his own body`s calling and all the inner demons and convictions to thrust all the way inside her like a beast and take her hard and without remorse, Sasuke went as slowly as humanly possible pushing inside Sakura`s constricting slick passageway while she whimpered under him digging her nails into his shoulders until she left fine red lines along his skin, embracing his back tightly and he leaned into her touch, keeping her hips steadily while she tried to jerk away with a firm pressure of his palms upon her hip bones.

She was in pain this much he could see, but the Priestess trusted him completely and they both knew it –this time, she had _faith_ in him that he will not try to hurt her.

 _You promised me!_

It made something ache into Sasuke`s own heart in a form of strange resonance to see her face creased by pain and not luminous and glowing with pleasure like before, and maybe that was the reason why he leaned forward to those quivering lips and kissed her gently again simply pressing his lips on hers and muffling her sobs.

When he was halfway inside her understanding that he couldn't go any further like that without plunging all the way inside her to break through her barrier, Sasuke cupped her sides with his palms holding her against him and, with a deep arch of his lower spine, he pulled back from her body and glissaded all the way inside her in a fluid roll of his firm hips thrusting all the way back inside until his erect manhood filled her completely lodging deeply inside her.

The response from both of them was immediate but completely opposite. Sakura`s entire body freeze at the deep intrusion when the immense pain burned everything in her lower body even worse than before travelling along her spine to bolt into her temples and chest, throwing her head backwards and screaming her pain to the stars above.

"AHH!" She nearly got Sasuke deaf by the light pitch soprano scream, but he on the other hand was blind and deaf by anything and only conscious of the aphrodisiac coursing along his body when she clasped around him and submerged him into her hotness, so arousing and so good; it was amazing, she felt more than incredible!

Oh God _this_ is fucking _incredible!_ Sasuke himself couldn`t begin to fathom how was it possible for him to feel like this by only going inside that woman but damn... it made his toes curl into the grass in bliss.

All the life force and vitality has been drained from his body in the span of a nanosecond and Sasuke nearly fell atop of her by how inert and heavy his entire fibers went in the moment when he went all the way inside her, but at the same time, the silkiness of the Priestess` slick wet body, the warmth, the delirium twined with an immeasurable feeling of being granted a cup of the sweetest nectar and a place in Heaven were too irresistible for him to fight back.

A lupine dark growl broke at the back of his throat when her inner walls wrapped around him and caged his body inside her like never wanting to let him go and stray away, albeit he brought her nothing but pain somehow matching the hushed cried response from her lips. "No no _no_ dear Kami _NO!_ " Her miserable moans drenched into the glistening tears aligning with the curb of her long eyelashes throuhg squeezed shut orbs.

Wrapping his strong arms around her form like wanting to offer a form of soothing and protection –although he was also the one to cause her pain too– Sasuke couldn't for his dear life find something more alleviating to say to her when he nearly stuttered like he never stammered in his entire life, whispering into her ear.

"Breathe." He vaguely realized that the Priestess was holding in her breath and amassing even more tension, because her entire body went suddenly listless and leaned in and matching the drowsy look in her rainy emerald pools, his mint and words fanned across her face.

Her mind was panicking and her body was desperately trying to alleviate the sudden wave of pain by syphoning endorphins and adrenaline along her body nearly knocking the oxygen from her lungs; Sakura has heard about how it was to give herself to a man for the first time of course, but she didn't imagine it that _she_ will ever fell prey to that hedonic pleasure and also never fathomed that it will hurt so _badly_.

She was a _kunoichi_ used to feel pain and normally that wouldn't have been anything but a mere discomfort, but this time, she didn't have the natural healing chakra to subsidize the pain and it felt like nothing she has ever physically felt before. It literarily lacerated her body in half.

So instead of focusing solely on the pain, Sakura tried to focus only on Sasuke turning her head on her left side to take a look at his profile brushing her cheek along his own and folded her hands around his chest, leaving deep scratching marks with her nails along his back and shoulders when he pierced through her without meaning to hurt him and trying to feel alleviation in the warmth of his body and the sound of his broken voice instead.

The fact that he was holding her in a way that could be limned as _affectionate_ was soothing Sakura and offered that sense of protection that any woman secretly suspired for.

Those were moments which felt like an eternity when neither Sakura nor Sasuke moved an inch, and it was surprisingly the beautiful maiden the one to shift for a bit hoping that the pain will start to subside if she changed the angle of his insertion but it only burned her more and every single breathe she took made the pain hit her harder. "Oh!"

Even if she didn't dare to look at their joined bodies, Sakura clearly felt how well gifted this Uchiha man was and his genes have blessed him with a striking virility to add to his beauty. He was beautiful, strong, defined and masculine just like every single part of him.

His thick girt spread her folds wide open brushing against her rosy lace body as he nested inside her almost hungrily and possessively, not leaving any inch of a distance between them. "S-Sasuke... t-this hurts s-so _so_ much..."

"I know it does." His lips were grazing at the corners of her luscious mouth when Sasuke turned his head on his side to look her in the eyes with a soft glazed look in his obsidian orbs, breathing to her. "Let me feel your pain. Tell me _just_ how… how much you... how much _I am_ –"

He kissed her hard to make up for the lack of words that refused to spill out of his mouth, finding himself in a totally out of character predicament, trying to make his way through dark unfamiliar passageways without a torch or a candle to guide him and she bit his lips painfully until they bleed sending her pain to him and he groaned but didn't pull away.

Adrenaline benumbed his pain but his heart nearly stopped ticking for a nanosecond. The Priestess was giving everything to him, she poured everything she felt for him into every mimic and her unconcealed feelings hit him like a tornado –he wasn't prepared for the tumult.

 _–How much you_ – inwardly, the laconic Uchiha wanted to say how much she _fell_ for him; because it was clear that the Priestess had feelings for him. She trusted him enough not to put up any fight or reject him –knowing that if she wished not to give herself to him so freely, the Priestess could have concocted a way to oppose him again.

Not only that, but the sentiments and sensations transpiring from her and ricocheting to him through the restraining Jutsu were spectacular, buoyant and heartwarming. He felt her heart so sound as so genuine and it was overwhelming.

* * *

When he penetrated her –in that moment which lasted for a glimmer of the eyes before the pain smothered any other feelings– the heart inside Sakura`s chest bloomed like a majestic phoenix pleading from the ashes to be set to conquer the azure and find _enfranchisement_.

She felt happy, genuinely happy and complete and that feeling was the only one she could reach; the feeling of having Sasuke so _close_ to her. Closer than she was with anyone ever before.

And the Uchiha felt the same as her and those were sentiments that he couldn't hide from her, not when he was so delicate, so… _loving,_ and having a dosage of patience with her that he normally didn't have.

Only with _you..._ _I_ can be gentle only _for_ someone like _her_ ; for _her_.

Sasuke felt at _home_ ; s _he_ felt like a home in the warmth of a home in a frozen December night during Christmas with the warm fireplace scorching and the scent of vanilla and chocolate cookies crayoning the perfect imagine of an entralling **family**. He wanted to remain suspended in that moment for eternity.

She felt like a woman, a home, a place to return to and her heartbeat wasn't deceiving him –she felt exactly the same as him, he knew it.

He didn't want all of those –he did not want to get _attached_ to this woman– but he couldn't stop them. He thrust into her body viciously with a desirious thirst that he has never felt before lodging inside her up to the hilt and the way her innocence responded to him knocked the energy out of his muscles.

Panting laboriously, Sasuke almost fell limp and drained of energy atop of her immediately propelling on his elbows on either side of her head for support and leverage, while Sakura slayed the lustful thick air with a broken scream. "Ah... _AH!_ "

Sakura`s lips were glistening with the rivers of crystalline tears burning along her cheeks while she sent him all her pain and all the smothered feelings through their kiss and he let her bit and nip on his lips as much as she wanted to feeling himself getting even more blind and lightheaded by arousal when she was touching his lips like that.

An invisible force guided Sasuke`s right hand which skimmed past her forearms and ribs coilding around her slim waist, to slip between the canopy of grass and her siren body down to where their bodies met so intimately together and pressed his thumb against the sweet buddle that seemed to bring her so much pleasure when his lips suckled on it, and started to rub the perked up clit with hard slow rotations of his digit against the ridged skin getting an immediate response from her. "Oh! Ahh!"

A soft moan travelled through their kiss when her body started to adjust to him planted inside her and when Sasuke`s digit found a rhythm along her clit pressing hard on it, pain started to transform into an indescribable whirlwind of pleasure.

She felt it reside somewhere deep inside her overcoming her mind and any ration in buildup energy which screamed to be let to explode in million suns. "Oh my _Sasuke_ –"

"Is this better? Tell me what to do for you to stop feeling pain. _Teach_ me what you want from me Priestess." His ragged voice was the best painkiller for her dripping with chocolate and lust. "what you want me to do and how do you want me to touch you." Never in his life has Sasuke enivsioned himself muttering something like that to a woman.

 _Show me things that no one taught me before._ But that was exactly the beauty behind making love to someone –for the first time– because giving each other mutual pleasure was something that they shall discover together throuhg their touches and kisses. Lovemaking was a tango without a defined routine; they had to create their own steps and set their own pace to reach the solstice of that passionate cadence.

"I-I don`t... know it myself Sasuke. I don`t know anything. I don`t..." She whispered through their messy kiss and let him knew that she also whished to know how to play along, how to react to him and what to do but she was equally cluess; secretly Sakura has put her faith into Sasuke to know what to do beforehand and she would have never imagined it that he will ask her for the same questions that she didn`t lodge a response to.

 _I am learning it too Sasuke._

"Don`t worry about it. Just hold me tight." Sasuke bad her gently and almost hotly when he broke the kiss, guiding her right leg around his waist and silently urging her to mirror the movement with her left leg and she complied to his request obediently straddling his narrow hip bones with her thighs into an intimate and ardent embrace of their lower bodies, locking her ankles behind his back while her hands wrapped around his neck, fisting into his hair.

Eyes met briskly into an electric infusion of feelings and bodily sensations which were foreign, alien and yet ebbed into the back of their genetic codes crypted into an ancestral melody that they knew from another time, another world, finding the same rhythm that has been once lost together.

Sakura swore that she has seen the face of the very Paradise in those amazing stygian sapphire eyes looking insidehis soul like peeping through an open mirror; they gleamed warmer than the sun melting the silver around his irises into a fusion of irresistible feelings.

Sasuke`s exhales came in ravaged laborious puffs when he started to pendulated his hips against her, going slowly at first to adjust to the foreign motion, taking his time with her like learning a new technique which required refinement, fluidity, smoothness and precision to be mastered.

Muscles tensed and elongated until they almost burned into Sakura`s steady embrace both preparing for something that promised to shake their worlds to the foundation, Sasuke took a full thrust inside her throbbing passage tearing any remains of her innocence from her body, feeling it immix with their bodily essences and stream from her symbolically into the last goodbye token of a young maiden of nature who will never return to purity.

 _She was a sinner in the snow._

Eagerly for more Sasuke repeated the same motion steadier than before since he was slowly adjusting and resonating to how his tauten hips should roll and wave against her glissading inside the rose haired beauty trying his best not to slam violently into her like an animal and give in to the plea of his painfully hard member.

It took every single fragment of control and beyond not to come right on the spot, but Sasuke blindly trusted his stamina for this act understanding that the act itself required a lot of self control and physical activity but it was all worth it.

He couldn't act like a pubescent teenager drowned into hormones and without any concept of thinking about the lady`s feelings and her own passion.

Sasuke didn't know where was that impulse and desire coming from –to bring the Priestess pleasure and make her _feel_ bliss– but it was unthinkable and ardent. He wanted her to feel just the way he did; so good, so blissful, so light and so hot.

A rhythm has been found between them soo when Sakura`s body started to react to him in just the right ways. She was getting slicker with every heavy thrust of his manhood, smoother and even hotter than before every time Sasuke moved in and out of her and something in the rear of her mind urged her to arch her back against him and meet his thrusts halfway and she did just as so, tringy to fall into sync with him and meet him halfway.

"Oh! S–Sasuke–"

"–damn woman." He hissed when her hips pendulated against him like she learned that dance even faster than him, taking him inside her greedily and filling her even deeper than before making the penetration even richer.

Sakura was briefly afraid that she will look awkward and laughable in her clumsy and totally inexperienced shenanigans, but somehow they had an unexplainable affiliation to each other like a natural correspondence between their body and that felt anything _but_ weird.

How could _that_ feel anything but pure euphoria, how can _it_ be bad and vapid when their bodies were on fire!

Her body was adjusting to Sasuke like she was meant to be his girl and even though his own body was so well endowed and seemingly never fitting inside her, her inner walls were stretching for him to _welcome_ him inside her up to the hilt and everytime he pumped inside her, Sasuke reached her deeper and deeper, tantalizing hot sweet spots inside her and unraveling her like a vault of treasures being discovered by _only_ him.

"Sasuke… _Sasuke_ –" To hear his name being blown like that, no louder and stronger than a chocolate zephyr and soaked in only bliss without any tinge of pain, sounded musical and lyrical for the raven haired Uchiha and nearly made him spring inside her by what she moaned to him next –begging. "–fas-faster… please I n-need this _f-faster_ … move _faster_!"

Suddenly everything was not enough anymore and probably that was the boldest and most lascivious line that has ever percolated from Sakura`s mouth, but they came out before Sakura could even think to censor herself.

The ball of fire and melted lava in the pits of her belly was bobbling up and down along her inner muscles every time Sasuke moved so deliciously deep inside her and the jadeite eyed enchanted woman absolutely couldn't withstand that tension anymore. "Please..."

It was so amazingly incandescent and felt so good to have him inside her and getting united with him over and over again, without any feeling of pain coming to blind the euphoria between their rocking bodies, but it was still not _enough._

The more the level of chemistry and intimacy propelled them into a whirlwind of magnetizing sensations, the more she wanted _him_ –desiring Sasuke– like she never coveted for a man before.

Uchiha was the best aphrodisiac, the sweetest nectar and the hottest breathe that Sakura as ever taken before. And the both of them _making love_ in the middle of the nature, with all the humid air brushing past their forms and hitting the exuding radiance oozing from their conjoined bodies, their conjoined shadows hitting the lower keys of the same piano song over and over again and reflecting into the twinkling million galaxies above, was deeply **emotional.**

Somehow, both of them were aware that they weren't _just_ fucking each other. That concept was too simple, too rough, too barbarous and libidinous to describe what they were doing, because in the moment when the first gentle touch has burned the electricity and lust between them into a sea of emotions, the moment when Sasuke`s voice surrendered to a whisper of affection and _care_ for her, in the moment when their lips deliquesced into a romantic passion counting the same seconds of eternity like their heartbeats, that was the exact moment –second, eternity– when they started to make _love_ to each other and not just simply get physical and driven by lust.

And when the pain subsided entirely for Sakura turning into that unfathomable delectation, she finally grasp the plenitude of the feeling of dearly _belonging_ somewhere; like a _tree_ digging its roots into the soil connecting to the infinite cosmic energy and becoming one with the time, with the Universe...

With _him_.

Something has been missing from Sakura`s chest now that thing has finally been returned to her like a celestial gift from another time mending the silk threads into a loving embroidery.

She had feelings for him no doubt about that. She _has_ feelings for Uchiha Sasuke, ones so profound that it even stunned her and nearly brought glimmering tears in emotion trembling into the corners of her Egyptian cat orbs –how could she even be _falling_ for an enemy, for her _captor_ in such a short span of time?

Drowning in that plethora of feelings and physical bliss, Sakura hugged Sasuke`s back under his shoulders tightly bringing him flush into her body, while he speeded up his fluid pumps inside her reaching deeper and entering her sharper with every roll of his winding hips, moving against her like a puma, so precise and getting better with ever motion.

"Kami… _Sasuke_ –" The fusion of their essences oozing in fine milky lines seeped with a dark pink hue as a token of innocence seeping from her body flowing along her thigh, past their conjoined bodies as Sasuke siphoned her and filled her with steady thrusts.

Her passageway was getting rinsed with every move that he made and the buildup tension was on par with the pleasure she felt.

It was churning inside Sakura like a swarm of bumble bees. There was a high tension wrapping her body as every single cell trembled and shivered while Sasuke was bouncing her making her clearly feel that they had to reach to a point where _something_ which was way over their perception would throw them both into the paramount of euphoria, _together._

 _What are we doing?_

Now when the pain miraculously dissipated like it has never been there to begin with Sakrua genuinely believed it with all her fibers and beyond that there must be another definition of pleasure that she has ever known of.

Sasuke felt so amazing, so delicious and firm moving in and out of her faster and faster like he was slowly losing control in lieu of helplessly looking for release, so warm and powerful; and this time, he was anything that he wasn't first time she has met him.

 _Trust, feelings, comfort, protection... him._

This Uchiha Sasuke was something that he hid deep inside him, this was a new Uchiha Sasuke who was tremendously different than the one she has seen so far.

And Sakura liked that face of him to no end. What he was doing to her felt so good, so incredible to be placed into words. Pleasure was ricocheting in the form of million voltages running along her spine, limbs, temples and residing between her legs where he kept on uniting them in that secret dance.

 _More_ … he had to feel more of her, more than this, the need to feel her _deeper,_ closer than him went feral inside his body, Sasuke realized. That invisible distance felt like their were an ocean apart. She was still too _far_ from him, she had to be closer, more  connected to him, he had to have her _entirely_ until distance became a suspended whisper into the night.

Oh, how bad he wished to know her _name_ in that moment.

Sasuke`s calloused palms glided from Sakura`s slender back to the cheeks of her firm ass and, holding her with much attention like maneuvering fine porcelain, Sasuke hoisted her hips up and leaned forward sliding along her body, arching his back while bringing her closer to him as her entwined ankles hooked upon his shoulder blades and the inside of her thighs went under his arms.

Then new position that he came up with out of pure reflex allowed Sasuke to hit her from a new delicious angle which allowed him a full penetration and it was easier for him to be granted full access to unlock sweet spots inside her that made the Priestess jolt up in surprise and throw her hands around his neck when electricity hit her hard and made her burst into flames. "OH! Sasuke!"

If she thought that the way she felt when Sasuke started a torpid rhythm inside her was pure rapture, now it felt nothing like before.

It was a pleasure that words couldn't comprise. It was too much to be true. "S-Sasuke… Sasuke please–" What words failed to convey to him, her body language made up for everything.

The way her inner walls –places which haven't been stroked before– were wrapping around his body tightly almost deliciously painful as his thrusts got firmer and wilder, steadier and more precise made Sasuke`s orbs hit the back of their head as he rolled them under half lidded glossy orbs.

A certain spot within the back of her inner walls which felt rougher than the rest of her cashmere smooth skin had Sakura arch like a bridge against him, taking both of them by surprise when she undulated her hips like a siren drowning on the burning sand throwing her head backwards with damp locks of hair fluttering with much effect of drops of water whirling around her like pearls, and tucked on Sasuke`s lavish hair, pulling his head into the crook of her neck and letting him feel the pace of her pulse upon his lips, screaming at the top of her lungs. "AHH! Y-Yes! S-Sasuke... _Sasuke_ please!"

That was the most erotic vista that Sasuke has ever seen in his life. Her innocent face was contorted in pure enrapture, pleasure was sizzling inside her wide open drowsy emerald pools, her bruised lips were chanting his name between rasped moans, her skin turned flushed as ivory turned the color of light blood and the sounds coming from her throat were ecstasy.

 _She is fucking gorgeous!_ Those were the only coherent missives which whirled around Sasuke`s lost euphoria mind. And entirely _mine_! His manly ego completed for him.

That spot that he has just found without having any knowledge about it had her throb around him and grip his twitching member inside her hard caging him inside her calescent milky body, pulsating around him like everything inside her kindled to life and threatened to explode any moment by now.

Mirroring the previous stroke perfectly with the same vigor and sturdiness hitting the same ridged spot over and over again made Sakura`s light soprano inflection break into unhinged cries in pure pleasure and those melodious sounds only stirred him more. "Oh! Ah! Oh my _Kami_!"

Sakura even got more daring with her own mimics for her hands were caressing and kneading the planes of his shoulder blades descending down his sculpted back and running along his toned ass, urging him to break away off his natural self-control and thrust inside her passionately, with a speed to match the erratic rhythm of their hearts.

"Fuck you are so... fucking _burning wet_." Sasukes unsteady husky baritone betrayed his own level of arousal. "How can you be so damn _tight_?" It was amazing that he didn`t manage to break her by the way he allowed himself to thrust inside her with sheer abandonment. His rich compass was stretching her elastic walls piercing throuhg the filigree folds of her feminine body spreading her apart like unwrapping the petals of a rose.

The unmistakable splashing echo of wet skin hitting skin, the friction between their rocking bodies tangled into a sensual waltz, the pounding of adrenaline rush deafening their vibrating eardrums, the murmured brush of their lips laced into a feverous kiss when both searched for each other`s mouths nearly breathless, the delicate choir of crickets playing in the background and the whisper of the rolling ripples across the water were all adding to the intimacy, to the elegant almost tantric touch of the atmosphere enhanced the level of closeness and the pleasure.

It was there, secluded deep inside her akin to a furnace threatening to explode in a beatitude without a name, the thing that Sakura felt it reverberating all along her body like she was riding an elevator, getting drown into the feeling, queasy, excited and light headed and incredibly hot.

Sweat was glimmering along every curve of her body in burning rivulets. There was something that needed to be set free which she didn't know what was it but the constant throbbing between her legs travelling along her spine became almost painful; it was slow sweet torture mixed with a painful pleasure in a way that had no definition but it was nothing like she has ever experienced before.

Burying her nose into the crock of Sasuke`s neck, inhaling his spicy scent blended with pheromones and his unmistakable fragrance coated into the hotness of his silky skin, she murmured through her moans and whimpers to him. "Sasuke… Sasuke please I am… I n-need–" She craved for so little and yet everything from him.

He knew what she was feeling because the Uchiha was experience the exact thing, only the ache in his gut was twice worse.

 _I need_ you.

Sasuke`s heavy balls bouncing full of burning semen were begging to be spritz his essences inside the warm nest of her womb and alleviate the painful tension, as well as the throbbing of his muscles sizzling and rippling as he seemed to be under a tremendous effort, but the pleasure coming along the way and squirting in gusts of adrenaline and hormones was overshadowing everything.

Gritting his teeth together and ballancing on his palms resting on either side of Sakura`s shoulders, Sasuke held himself from exploding inside her and tried his best to keep that steady rythm and glissade inside her body while she bounced against him and rolled her hips in perfect sync taking him all inside while the pressure of his member agaisnt her walls nearly became painfully good.

HE knew that he had to keep on going and not necessarily for him because Sasuke was barely keeping on going maintainting that fast steady pace as he slid inside her almost without encountering any resistance from her body, but more for _her_.

The idea of the Priestess begging him for something that he _wouldn't_ be able to grant while he found his sweet way to bliss alone, was nihil in his mind and that was probably one of those rare moments when Sasuke was thinking about someone else`s wellbeing and feelings. "D–Don`t stop Sasuke," Her voice whimpered in pleasure and desperation nearly screaming into his ears. "please _don`t_ stop! Ah!"

There was no representation springing inside his mind about why was it mandatory for her to find release first or why was it so important in that moment, but somehow Uchiha felt like he won`t be fitting to proudly call himself a _man_ if he didn't care about the woman whispering hotly upon his skin, wrapping her hands almost desperately around his neck while undulating her hips in almost perfect harmony with him. "Fuck!"

He battled with his own body to keep on going and thrust inside her even faster, pounding inside her with sheer abandonment and going as deep as he physically could.

Milky juices spurting from her body raised her walls entirely and making the friction between them almost inexistent. Sasuke was glissading in and out of her easilylike she has opened up the doors to her home wide for him in a silent welcome.

"Damn it…" He groaned when the broiling sting inside his body became unbearable, dipping down his head to suckle on her pulse frenetically, trailing blistering wet kisses along her chest and rubbing his palm between their entwined bodies and grazing her clit now knowing exactly where to touch her and how.

"Oh!" His lips on her glace skin, his hand rubbing the sensitive bundle between her unfolded petals, his body reaching that spot inside her which turned her into lava and the feeling of his muscled body rippling under her palms and burning her fingertips with sheer power and grace was too much to resist. "Sasuke–"

"Sasuke... _S-Sasuke_ – _"_ The buildup tension inside her detonated like dynamite and sent her haywire senses straight into Nirvana. It took Sakura out of guard and unprepared for something at that scale, the orgasm thundered into her body like billion voltages discharged down her spine, rippling along every trembling cell of her body in violent waves of pure rapture.

His name being chanted by her while she was submerging in bliss was too much to handle. Sasuke wished for her to never stop screaming, breathing, moaning and begging while saying his name like _that_. Never in his life has Sasuke _trembled_ when a woman said his name.

Sakura felt that every single muscle in her body blazed in glee and fireworks exploded under her squeezed lids as she literarily upshot from under the ground like a growing a pair of wings, tossing her head backwards and screaming atop her lungs the name of the one who stole the innocence from her and opened dup the path to pure pleasure to her. "Sasuke! AH!"

The way Sakura`s body wrapped around him in a tight constriction then convulsed like she has been magnetized and dematerialized was too much for Sasuke to handle. She took him in bliss when violent spasms travelled along her body and his name breaking between her gasping lips was something even more amazing than his own release. "AHHH! SASUKE!"

Burying his face into her well-endowed chest, Sasuke groaned something intelligible that went to deaf ears as he exploded inside her and spurt his kernel deep inside her and nearly collapsing atop of her but he quickly found a surge of a leftover energy to balance on his elbows, while Sakura was clinging on him, with a loose hold around his shoulder blades, panting like somehow has cut the tunnels of air supply out of her chest.

"Fuck... _fuck_ fuck!" He couldn`t help himself, the way Sakura clasped around him in an iron grip made him go insane and lose control. That hurricane inside his body came undone, he came inside her after two more laborious thrust inside her while Sakura milkied him with her glistening essences sprinkling from her body and mixing with his hot semen as he seeped inside her body makign that warmth that his body provide her tickle her chest.

Her heart was madly singing divine melodies of love, racing and going hysteric burning her rib cage. That was beyond divine; to have Sasuke fill her with his juices like that being the closest to him possible made her want to cry in happiness and fulfillment.

For five good minutes, the only source of noise was their respective irregular exhales and the topsy-turvies inside their hearts, reveling into the aftermath of their high induced state like not wanting to break that riding bliss with a wrong comment.

There was nothing to say in all honesty; a Priestess has given herself to her enemy and enjoyed it more than she could have ever believed.

Sasuke was the first one who moved first after minutes in total quiescence when he felt like the entire world was suddenly warmer, cozier, the problems have miraculously dissipated, the ghosts of the past stopped haunting him and all he wanted to do was sink deep into that euphoric state of completion and fall into slumber.

Lifting up to hover above the silent pink haired kunoichi, he took a look up to her face and found her mien imbued with an expression that he would last expect from her; she was silently _crying_.

And that momentarily struck him even more prominent than his orgasm because this time, his heart felt it sound and clear –the sound of fine porcelain shattering against a hard surface and spilling in million pieces.

He wanted to ask her what was wrong but words failed to reach his lips. She wasn't lamenting or looking like a weak woman or a victim, no, her face was pretty much laved by obvious pleasure that her release granted her, but those shimmering sparkles aligned along the curves of her long eyelashes and cascading in tiny rivers of tears from the corner of her unfocused eyes were unmistakably tears.

Her hands that were cupping his back fell along his sides when he arched his spine to have a better look at her and tapped the grass, listless and defeated.

Sakura was _disappointed_ by something or someone and it was silently torturing her; something that Sasuke couldn't begin to comprehend.

Was it not good enough? Was _he_ not good enough to her, not satisfactory?

Moreover, she absolutely eschewed her eyes from his; she refused to look into his confused obsidian orbs which were fighting to focus on her face as he fine– combed a hand through his hair, finding it funny how his muscles felt heavy and exhausted like he has been fighting for hours, pulling his damp hair backwards. It was Sakura the one to shockingly break the silence between them.

Her voice was strained and tad hoarse than normal due to her multiple moans and cries and it was barely audible but he caught it so clearly. And those things she said nearly had him choke on his own spit. "I-I suppose that y-you must f-feel very proud of y-yourself… n-now that you… successfully b- _broke_ me… Sasuke."

Like always said Uchiha managed not to let it show that he found her retort absolutely preposterous, but inwardly something clenched inside him and it was not the blast he got in his ego. His own words came back in reverse to him.

 _' **I will corrupt her innocent little wings and break her until she will beg** **me** **and me only'**_

His onyx orbs widened even for a fraction of second realizing that he succeeded to turn his previous affirmation into reality; she indeed begged him for release and he broke her purity.

As if on cue, his orbs travelled to the inner of her thigh where their fused essences were soaked in tinges of blood red as a proof of innocence leaving her, flowing from her core and coating his member.

Wordlessly , he pulled away from her maybe too fast and made her whimper at the loss of contact as she felt sore and stingy from the first time, urging himself to stand up albeit he wanted nothing more than to stay inside her for eternity.

Coldness hit them both when Sasuke got on his two in all his splendid naked glory and, turning his back on her, brushed his hands through his air and regulating his breaths, he mumbled to her.

"Don`t you even dare to deny the fact that you _enjoyed_ yourself when _you_ were the one to _beg_ me for _it_ and not the other way around. You liked it, don`t lie to yourself."

He was a cold arrogant bastard and Sasuke was aware of it. But her words slayed deep through him and maybe this was his way to take revenge on her.

A sudden wave of sadness, pain and discombulation along with the immense feeling of loneliness washed over Sakura, as she brought her legs to her chest and slowly pushed herself up to propel on her palms and turning her head over her shoulder to look at the Uchiha through glossy eyes.

He was right of course and she couldn't argue with that. The myriad of emotions that she felt in that moment were overwhelming and impossible to be contained in only one vault.

She felt like any solid foundation and everything that anchored her to the ground slipped from under her feet and left her floating in vacuum without leverage.

Everything she has built up so far meticulously and diligently following every rile and every conduct now crumbled into a pile of sand and ashes.

She brought the back of her palm to brush away her falling tears, finding it stupid and childish for a strong Priestess and a versatile kunoichi to shed tears, but she couldn't help it.

Now Sakura wasn't the type of girl to run from responsibilities and face the consequences of her own actions. "This is true, of course," Her voice was broken and lifeless, Sasuke could say. He could even taste a bitter taste on her tone that she never had before like she was self-blaming herself and not him for what has happened between them. "it might not be of any significance to you, but I have failed my purpose as a Priestess and the sacrosanct mission that I have been entrusted with..."

Somehow, seeing that the Priestess was not trying to place the blame on someone else and by a damsel in distress and trying to play it cool made something stir inside his chest and that strange feeling coursed through him entirely. "…while became one of the many _trophies_ from your presumptively vast collection. I have been reduced to just _another_ woman. One of the many _other_..."

That line she said made him turn his head over his shoulder to look at her, not actually believing that she said something like that and albeit it made perfect sense for anyone to be thinking like that, there was one thing that perturbed Sasuke terribly more than she assuming that he was the type to sleep around with various women.

What an insult! No real Uchiha man who has been given a traditional strict education could be called an aristocrat by displaying such coquettish and flirtatious attitude.

His ancestors would roll in their graves if he stained their reputation by doing that. But… what truly angered Sasuke was how low was she thinking about herself.

Like... what the heck? The way she made those words sound albeit she whispered them between clenched teeth, bitter, remorseful and almost cynical made him frown down at her, because she implied that she has been just one of the many other females that he had sex with. How can she be this stupid to put herself on the same level as _another_?

Moreover, didn't she learn by now that the way he deflowered her and the way he made her his was more than simply sleeping with someone?

It even stunned him how gentle he was with her and now that he was starting to get down from the high induced blissful state he could review his actions with more calm and ration and damn… Sasuke mentally slapped himself for losing his control like this.

Never in his life has the last Uchiha been more gentle with anyone else, except for his mother but the comparison was superfluous in the context. And now she thought that she has been just one unimportant fling; a one night stand.

He wanted to strangle her for that and moreover, he wanted to slab himself for the look she had on her face. Sakura was still lying in a rather sexy position, similar to a siren on the beach, with her hands placed on the grass, her long gazelle legs folded together creating the ethereal effect of them being even longer and slimmer and concealing her modesty while revealing her violin curves and her hair cascading sensually over her shoulders, breasts and half of the face, but that wet and messy post orgasmic aura and style enhanced her more mature and womanly allurement.

Indeed… she didn't look like a maiden anymore. Well, technically she wasn't virgin anymore but… at the same time, her face was still pure like a white dove`s feathers and so was the look in her orbs; mixed with pain, hurt and acceptance.

Oh God she was _gorgeous_ like that! Her flushed skin tinged with a rubicund hue enhancing the glowing porcelain. She was angelic and ethereal in his eyes.

And that made Sasuke briskly wonder why? Why has the Priestess gave herself to him? He knew as the sky was blue that she wasn't supposed to but at the same time, she didn't fight him back. Why?

Those jadeite pools were demanding something from him, maybe an explanation or a soothing word to cling to as her virtual Shrine fell into ruins, but Sasuke was not someone to comfort anyone and nor was he excusing himself for his actions. Plus… he would be damned if he wouldn't admit that it was amazing!

Heck, he wanted her again!

But of course, he already had his walls up in place surrounding his heart and mending the breaks in his defense that she managed to cause, raking a hand through his hair more of a habit to calm his raging nerves and hormones, giving her an indifferent look. "What the hell are you talking about?"

His tone alone was breaking her heart but Sakura fought to smothered those tears and not cry like a helpless girl. Of course, she failed to do so in the moment she has seen how cold he was with her because it only enhanced her assumption.

While Sasuke simply enjoyed a quick fuck for convenience, she on the other hand has failed to preserve her innocence and thus be worthy of her title as a Priestess.

She betrayed her mission and the honor that has been given to her by her Shishou. She never felt more helpless to the world, more impotent and pathetic.

And all of what was churning inside her didn't go unnoticed by Uchiha. No, his obsidian orbs were taking everything in, drinking every grim sentiment and every fragment of remorse until it filled the gullet, making him _react._ "Y-You must feel… v-very proud of yourself f-for s-satisfying your desires." That was what she breathed to him.

Closing in to her again until he was standing right in front of her not bothering to got his nude form with clothes, he was mentally dropkicking himself unconscious for letting her control his mind again. "Hn," He exhaled totally indifferent while casually dipping down to wrap his right hand around Sakura`s waist and without any warning he easily hoisted her up, bringing her flush into his chest with his lips nearly tapping her forehead, keeping her steadily to him while her legs wobbled.

"Of course. I won`t even try to hide it from you that I deeply enjoyed making _love_ to you _Priestess_."

That word falling from his smirking lips was ironic and they both knew it; that was the reason why he enunciated it so clearly. Sakura tried to pry his hands off her body and punch him in the chest when he mocked her, but Sasuke was faster and wrapped his hand around her wrist, tucking her up to him until the tip of their noses brushed against one another.

Her mind was not fast enough to catch it the fact that Sasuke didn`t refered to their intercourse as _'having sex'_ but he used the more affectionate way of enuntiating it, by stating that they _'made love'_ instead.

Sakura`s breath has hitched midways her lungs when Sasuke tilted his head on his side, clicking on his tongue in a peculiar way that let her know he was offended and annoyed and said something that had her drop her jaw ungracefully in shock and her orbs to bulge into their sockets and roll down onto the grass.

"But if you must know, your earlier assumption about me is completely unsupported since _you_ are the _first_ and the _only_ woman that I`ve ever slept with."

* * *

 **A/N:** So here is the other part of the previous chapter that I was talking about – I split the previous chapter in half to make it easier to read. So this is the 'surprise' that I have been talking about and I truly hope that you enjoyed reading the first lemon of this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I truly hope that I have not lost my touch since it has been some time since I last wrote a hot scene. It will not be the last one of course.

I know –oh I _so_ know it– that I will probably some get people extremely bored and probably annoyed by the long descriptions, but I truly hope that this was not entirely cliche and poorly written. I cannot help myself with this pair, I could write endless pages with Sasuke and Sakura entrapped into intimate encounters.

I promised that you won`t escape from me so easily!

Oh well... I apologize if this was bad and I promise that I will do my best to get even better. I wrote many intimate scenes in my other stories, but this time it was also a premiere for me to write a hot scene between Sasuke and Sakura with both of them having their first time together and so I wanted it to be tad more... profound, deeper since it was their first time together. Usually in my stories Sasuke is not depicted as a virgin since I am more comfortable with having him as experienced and learn Sakura the arts of making love to him. That was challenging to say at least...

Thank you for the feedback of the previous update guys, I will properly take it back to you next time so I won`t disrupt the flow of my replies.

Till later...


	13. Tango for two

**::CHAPTER XIII – TANGO FOR TWO::**

* * *

"Y-You meant that you... You n-never h-had... This before- no _no_ this can't be real, you are toying with me!"

Eyes shrouded by desire tinged with the afterglow of such an intimate experience welled in confusion and incredulity as Sasuke simply stared down at her with a seemingly neutral expression on his handsome mien, except for those black sapphire eyes that encased both affront at her implication and something _warmer_ , stronger and less empty than their usual unreadable expression.

"Why would I be lying about this? You're so presumptuous to think so low of me and judge me, but what if I am _not_ the bad man that you are making me be? Hm?"

Whispering hotly upon her parted lips like breathing those words into the depths of her soul while smirking cruelly and in a tempting enigmatic gesture, completely not troubled by the prospect of preserving his own virtue up until now, he teased her with the same earmark unparalleled sense of irony and sarcasm.

Pleasurable shivers brimmed along her spine as perception sent Sakura reeling into something so blissful, so complete and so soothing and, at the same time, the same chemical sparkles sprinkled all around them while they were intimately connected were back ricocheting full force to both of them, as intimacy netted into the ambiguous threads of desire and carnal lust.

Gulping once to quench the thirst summoned by Sasuke`s lips and alleviate the knot inside her throat, flickering her gaze to his sateen lips then back to his fallacious eyes, Sakura encountered the same immeasurable fire making them more luminous and deeper than onyx gemstones.

Eyes– which were as beautiful and exquisite as they were Delphic and insatiable to dominate, to control, to manipulate and entrap her into the world that his mind was conjuring and presenting her another version of reality; one that was as sweet as it was sinful and forbidden.

Sakura fought the impulse to fine-comb her digits through his damp lush hair as it glimmered into the radiance of the night with an ethereal contrast of raven and electric blue, colliding elegantly with the ivory of his skin.

The worst thing was that he knew _exactly_ what sorts of explicit things were simmering through her mind in pure jubilance, giving him enough opportunities to fructify that unique chance to mock her and push her buttons way further than her modest limits.

And that was the reason why his stygian orbs were electrifying and hypnotic as they nearly fell into the already familiar pattern of blood; capturing the unmistakable hilarity at how different they were albeit their current condition was supposed to put them on the same level; that they both gave themselves to each other for the _first_ time.

"Because... How can it be that y-you are a… For someone who is just like–" Words failed her in lieu to gasping aloud in pure confusion and surprise, realizing that Sasuke was just as inexperienced as she was in terms of romance and lovemaking, but his unswerving attitude, the grace, his skill, the ability to understand the language of the roses of her body in order to satiate that calescent bonfire need, was too irresistible to take his words for granted.

He was almost _too_ good to be a novice.

He was truly a proud symbol of a man`s most seductive portrayal of manhood and power because no matter how many times has he engaged himself into an action, Sasuke always preserved that peculiar finesse, grace in movements and fluidity, filigree pattern of his touches as his fingertips explored her body like exploring an ancient temple that has been buried under the centuries and he wished to tap the vestiges of its preserved beauty and history and of course, his overflowing vigor, virility in the most sensual and beautiful display as he knew perfectly how to be sharp, implacable, sturdy and in control, without actually overwhelming her or making her mentally and physically uncomfortable or restrained when she was with him, was unparalleled and deliciously stupendous.

In fact, Sakura did not feel the anticipated sensation of being dirty after sleeping with him, used as a tool to his desires and caprices, as a liaison to carnal pleasure and concupiscent figments, and not in the bit disgraced or vulnerable to him, albeit Uchiha was the one who could literarily crash her mentally and break her physically.

Sasuke didn't do any of that, in fact, her tottering heart and the blissful jubilance that wrapped her entire self into a delightful warmth compelled the answer to what she was feeling – **intimacy** , emotions that should never be there but were brimming through her brain as wheels continued to swivel like million windmills, entrapped into fugitives explicit feelings and forbidden sentiments.

Sentiments that even Sasuke himself was visibly trying to conceal behind his sarcasm and mockeries, but his eyes were not lying; his dilated pupils, the indescribable beauty of the afterglow making the smoldering coal around his irises melt into a pleasant luminous radiance like diamonds bathed into the light a candle, and the artistry of his calm and serenity combined with his the fingertips of his left hand were leisurely sauntering along her ribs, tickling her pleasantly, then rounding her hipbone refraining from touching her in any sexual way.

His entire tenue had multiple nuances and hidden ambiguities, but at the same time... something about Sasuke pleaded with her to silently understand what his lips could not voice out loud and even reciprocate.

She didn't know how to expressively voice it aloud that she wouldn't believe it that such a gifted man, blessed by such masculine beauty and appetizing finesse would be _pure_ from this point of view, but there he was confessing to her unabashed and nearly praising himself for his abstinence.

"Don't underestimate an Uchiha." Sasuke interrupted the plethora of thoughts churning through her reeling mind with an index finger slipped under her chin, while his left palm was kneading her hipbone and the flute of her waist, making Sakura shudder in the same pent up desire for him, as pleasurable warm tingles prickled along her porcelain skin in obvious response to his touches.

It was just unthinkable that those hands could kill in cold blood in one devastating blow.

Her chest felt heavier while his breaths were still deliquesced fire electricity and uneven, looking deeply into her stylish aureate-viridian hues. "As much as you might find it hard to believe, know that I am not a philanderer who enjoys to coquette with random women. How disgraceful to my family that would be. I have my pride and morals, Priestess."

She couldn't argue with his declaration when he evoked the memento of his parents and kinsmen, silently listening in respect for she still didn't entirely trust him, she could say that his words were genuine.

"T-then what about... M- _me_? Why have you… And why _now_?" Sakura could not fathom it whatever desires brimmed though Sasuke to lead her to the steps of such an explicit beautiful experience of supreme intimacy if he loathed her and wished nothing more but to disgrace and use her.

To his utter stupefaction, Sasuke himself had absolutely _no_ idea of what type of charm worked on him to do something like that, and the fact that he had an analytic mind which always leaped from one idea to another was not helping him at all.

There were new feelings that tried to vanquish the deep loneliness and darkness ingrained into his heart, ones that he couldn't understand but shockingly enough, they feel so pleasant, so meant to be there, almost like his entire being was coveting for Sakura not to block him away and she did not, for reasons that were obvious even for him.

He couldn't help but imagine Sakura as she was lying lax under him like a broken angel whose pristine wings tinged with a raven shade as her furs turned smoldering black, enveloping her flimsy glowing figure as invisible chains attached to her wrist and ankles kept her as a captive to him, while the snow under her form smeared red as blood in a symbolic manner for the lost mental and physical innocence –no he only had her body stained because her mind remained pristine.

How much of a demon has he dropped to for corrupting an angel? And not just another angel who was floating in its own paradisiac state of mind sheltered by eternal light and happiness and never getting to taste sin, but an angel that actually wanted to get closer to him, personal and intimate and actually reach to the depths of his most secluded abysses, then haul him from the darkness where his soul was churning without any shadows or reflections, and ultimately attempt to _save_ him, but in reality, Sakura was too naive for her own good.

His quietude fell heavy and thick and suffocating between them and Sakura could pervade into the abyss of those twilight orbs feeling like a ghost ship without an anchor slowly drowning as it was being pulled towards the sinister bottom and electric shudders and tremors rolled in microscopic bolts along her spine wrapping her into a frisky funny and bizarre sensation.

Sasuke just glimmered at her in curiosity, befuddlement and something else that was hallmark to him and him only and the magnetic attraction in his hypnotic eyes was only enhanced by his slightly narrowed erotic gaze.

He was superb, beautiful like a black puma with striking elegant features of ebony sewed on the alabastrine skin and enticing eyes, but those **eyes** suddenly seemed so distant, so far away and cosmic as flickering luminesce from earlier was slowly whittling and that immeasurable darkness that made one lose its way inside overcame them; they seemed so empty, so tormented, so troubled and _exposed_ and they stole Sakura`s breaths away.

His mind could not summon a single logical explanation for the impulse that drove him to sleep with her, but every iota in his body craved terribly for her for from the very first moment when he encountered her gracious presence, for her exotic fruity taste, for her flimsy timid silk touches; it was uncontrollable impulse to have her so intimate, so close and erotic, to lodge himself so deep inside her and tattoo his name into her remind, seal it into her heart and lock it onto her lips.

That desire was visceral and organic, primal and so simple and yet it felt more rewarding and fulfilling than any representation of completion that Sasuke sketched in his mind, for a reason that he couldn't fathom. He was not like this, not swiveling around the mirage of romance, of closeness and connectedness, he was a pragmatic man with high ambitions and thus not submerged into something so banal, so placid… and yet, he was.

A shuddering power to claim her first, to mark her as _his_ in a vestige of his possession over her blinded Sasuke entirely and he couldn't resist to it. "Because no one else had you before me and no one was ever supposed to have you."

His laconic answer turned into a full archetype of the most demonic definition of possession and dominance, topped by the arrogance of staining her with his hands –limbs which danced around her body falling into the steps of the most mesmerizing tango– proving it to her that he was both capable of granting her pleasure and pain, and this versatility intertwined with the smooth ability to volte-face his conniption completely in the span of a nanosecond was a frightening ability, for he was already so inscrutable to begin with even when he was not even trying.

Sasuke has just reminded her that Sakura was supposed to remain pure, untouched and only then, it dawned to Sakura about her tergiversation, but nonetheless she was baffled to realize that Sasuke was not in the bit amused while spilling the truth into her face so cruel and painful without mercy, almost like wanting to test her reactions, but instead of diffidence and ungainliness, he has seen panic and guilt.

Shimmering slick tears welled along her eyelids like sprinkling drought diamonds when she scrunched her shoulders and dipped down her crystalline orbs, being suddenly reduced to a fallen angel with deviant steps as she sauntered along the meandering paths that led to Hell instead of taking the stairs to Paradise, simply because temptation conquered her virtue and morals.

It hurt her more than she has anticipated because to Sakura whose purpose was finite and bordered by strict boundaries, it felt almost like losing her _reason_ to live and thus she found herself reduced to a simple woman who has just slept with a man that held no feelings of affections for her whatsoever; or so she thought, because Sakura would never venture as far as to think that Sasuke would ever look at her with emotion in his eyes and love in his heart.

This virtual wings of innocence feel for her shoulders and the wind ruffling from the snowy peaks of the high mountain crests fluttering through the leaves and the grass felt cruel against her denuded skin, whipping her metaphorically in punishment, for the felt so uncovered figuratively and literary so abandoned and estranged when she realized that she had nothing left to live for –not even the protection of her virtue and the role of a Priestess only being reduced to zero; to a _prisoner._

"Don't try to show regret _puppet_ ," His teasing words felt cruel and trenchant but also painfully real while he was slaying through her skin, through her resolve and hadn't it been for his firm –yet so incredibly gentle– hold around her waist, her spirit would have completely crumbled like the walls around her heart.

"I knew it from the start that you will not be able to resist me. And this amuses me terribly. The more you try to deny your attraction for me, then the more it spices up the game."

The back of her knees got tickling and wobbled nearly made her go lackluster in his arms while the lustrous luminescence of pollen polished emerald diamond was welled in unsorted emotions and she was unable to dry him.

"But what truly makes it even more delightful," She half lidded her glossy orbs when his lips grazed her cheek to latch to the shell of her war breathing seductively, darkly and possessively, his voice enticing her like velvet cognac. "is that you are my puppet and no one else can have you like this."

A shiver which she felt ten times enhanced by the perfection of his explicit beauty traversed her entire body while she shivered in his arms, fine nails grazing the expense of his sculpted chest and her genuine incontrollable reactions only fueled his arrogant orbs with pride.

Somehow, his smug possessive declaration and claim on her –as pitiful and weak as her condition might seemed– made the suffocating apprehension of not belonging anywhere dissipate miraculously.

"Now don't give me that look, my dearest _Priestess_ , " Sasuke taunted her as the demonic handsomeness twined with his artistry of easily rolling those endearing words while faking commitment –or was he truly feeling affection, enunciating the laughable weakness for not being able to abstain from sin. "we both know just how much you _enjoyed_ it, "

His chocolate champagne words brushing her like a sateen caress when he nipped on her earlobe softly, massaging her shoulders with the back of his calloused palms and the violin contours of her slender back, then slowly, erotically in the most appetizing concoction skimmed along her thighs exploring her skin in complete dominance.

"how helplessly drowned into me you were and how ardently you _begged_ me for pleasure." Albeit as much as a self-absorbed shinobi who only tasted the fragrance of darkness and hatred and buried those passionate feelings of love deep within the confinements of his memory, unbeknownst to him, Sasuke was both the winner and the loser of his own game by giving into her completely –giving himself– not only in body, but in spirit too.

Brushing a fallen damp lock of her silken light strawberry blonde tresses around her ear, softly and tenderly like attempting to tap the fragile wing sorry a butterfly without blowing the pixie dust off them, Sasuke made her shiver in response to his next tantalizing line, heartbeats pounding in frenetic cadences into the vault of her chest as he whispered words unrolled from the scroll of seduction.

"We can have a reenacting if you want," His regal cheek brushed against her while he slid his luscious lips along the sateen cords of her neck, tasting her coltish heart's response through the pendulations of her pulse.

"I know that I would terribly enjoy having you writhing under me and soaked in bliss again –pleasure that only _I_ can give."

In the back of her mind, Sakura knew that his brazen missives represented just a spurt of arrogance, but harbored a sad truth behind nonetheless –she sunk so low when giving in to sin, but at the same time, she soared so high by giving in to him.

He was a demon who loved her passionately, darkly and in such a primal carnal way, but he definitely touched her and made love to her like an angel riding that blissful feeling of Paradise alpng with her.

Sasuke`s peculiar fragrance –the ocean fresh breeze of his Cologne still lingering on his damp hair and the junction between his neck and shoulder mixing with his own piquant scent, an unmistakable bouquet of cinnamon, sandalwood, musk, and leather, had Sakura reeling into euphoria.

Her skin, Kami– her _skin_ was a glowing diaphanous tinge of rubicund-ivory which bore the memento of _his_ smell all around and the sudden sense of physical possession hit Sasuke so carnal and organic that he barely kept himself in check for not swinging his hips against hers once more and try to see if he could have her scream his name until she wouldn't be able to make out from pain and pleasure.

Sakura could clearly sense his fire still flickering inside her possessively, demanding, powerful, lithe and fine and once again, the jade crystals around her irises fogged with a thick silken layer of desire and something _else_ for him.

"So... just say it, Priestess, what is that _you_ want?" Tilting his head in a playful newfound sadistic pleasure while his obsidian orbs challenged the twilight surrounding them in its lone mystique beauty, shadowed by the sable locks of hair sprinkled along his pristine face, he taunted. "I am normally not a generous man, but this time, I am willing to make an exception for _you_."

His voice was lace and soaked into an ardent desire, clouding her mind and the erotically implication of his explicit breathed words sent pleasant chills along Sakura`s chest and ultimately residing into her lower abdomen.

The need for him exuded from her body in unhinged emotion, more than the words he used to beckon her to him –she didn't just want him physically but spiritually too.

Her lustrous ousted skin, ornamented with the imprint of his touches and purple love marks, was glowing a virgin shade of rutilant and porcelain and she was still as pure as snow, even if she gave herself to him, and even if he also gave himself to her in return for the first time, it was nowhere near as important as her offering him the honor to be the first man in her life.

It was as unexplainable as the need to breathe, to glimmer, to exist –wanting her terribly in ways that Sasuke would have never believed that he would desire something so vividly, so ardently, so fondly in ways that were as unfamiliar as they came to him naturally; and that obsession terrified him deeply, for his control was slipping through his fingertips; she blossomed into his arms so beautifully and recherche, like the cocoons of chrysalide turning into a gracious butterfly.

It was in the moment when he gazed deeply into the abyss of her drowsy luminous emerald eyes has Sasuke realized that the Priestess` spirit can never be broken, because her ineffable, her glace skin was too pure to be tainted by someone –especially someone so submerged into sin as him– and he could even envision the outline of her crystal wings twinkling behind her back as memento that she was still an angel.

"Could it be me the one that you want?" A sneaky index digit slipped under her pointed chin while she tried to avert her eyes from him by lowering her gaze so as his sophistic onyx eyes could not pierce through her and betray her shameful desires, whispering upon her lips as he led her face up to his, taunting her with the feel of warmth radiating from his lavish lips. "want to be mine again?"

He couldn't explain something so strong and profound, it was transcendental; Sasuke wanted that petite woman with diaphanous curves and glass doll features more than oxygen and water combined.

The more her angelic afterglow basked into the meadows of _his_ shadows, then the more his spirit felt like soaring being enfranchised from purgatory where he has been imprisoned for so long, bringing his immersed into hatred spirit to the light and fighting with the demons from his past.

Sakura was his oasis of salvation, the ticket to Paradise and albeit she was smearing her pristine sateen skin with his sins, he, on the other hand, felt liberated into her arms.

When she wobbled on her jitters legs still lax from such an intense new experience and not actually capable of finding coherence and strength into her knees to come into her senses, there were dainty droplets of their fluids mixed with a light claret shade of blood from her stolen innocence leaking on the inside of her thigh, but she didn't notice it.

Sasuke, on the other hand, caught every single detail and his intuitive hawk eye roamed in torrid trails along her form like admiring the tableau of a Goddess, breathing her in and not actually believing the stupidity of his action; yes, underneath all the sheets of pride and self-gratification that he felt from deflowering a young maiden –a fragile droplet of dew untouched by the sun melting into his palm– Sasuke realized with a start that he has been careless and extremely naive.

And not to mention a complete _idiot_. What has traversed his mind in the moment when he slept with the Priestess was something that Sasuke couldn't begin to fathom albeit the ache in his chest and the sensation of asphyxiation while there was still air in his lungs told him the truth –a verisimilitude that he refused to acknowledge– he craved for that woman.

He wanted her helplessly in ways that he never desired someone else before and life's finest irony met its paramount when Sasuke realized that the most polarized her gesture were when she reacted to him blissfully, giving in to him completely, then the more he desired her.

A rubicund tinge spanned along her cheeks and Sakura tried to avert her emerald orbs in embarrassment as her entire body language betrayed her inner tumult, while dark desires that she didn't know that resided latent into her mind howled to him in excitement, and damn him, Sasuke could actually read _every_ single line that churned into those lustrous orbs bathed in lust, in desire, in pleasure and silent need, all marks of her tainted part that now belonged to  him and that nearly made Sasuke`s heart miss a beat.

 _A vestige of pure emotion residing inside his chest._

He was not the type of philanderer to compete with his perverted players friends for the supremacy of bedding the largest number of flamboyant ladies or have one night stands, but definitely having _this_ swan writhing under his touch while her eyes and lips sung a different song that how her heart stammered into her chest, turning her from a pure innocent Priestess with her soul as pristine as fresh virgin snow and rubicund cheeks, her image pertaining to the stars and Heavens, into the prey of his captivating charms was phenomenal and made Sasuke voluntarily succumb to the mawkishness of _dominating_ a woman completely as a _man_ , while turning her desires into pleasure.

"Heh… so much for the feisty attitude and preserving innocence. Such a sham–"

Something ignited into her chest as her heart revved with a staccato rhythm at the implication of his words and this time, stifling a moan that threatened to quiver from her lips when Sasuke`s digits skimmed around the swell of her breast teasingly stroking the delicate skin gingerly as his orbs compelled amusement and a tinge of a dangerous playful glint, nearly stammering as she kept herself steady, Sakura nearly bridled.

"-please don't speculate in vain. I am not an easy woman who gives herself to various men. Please don't insult my dignity." That spurred confession shot through his chest like a spurt of electricity, painful and potent and he resisted the urge to shiver at the uncomfortable feeling.

She didn't need to enunciate such missives because he knew more than anyone else that Sakura`s virtue resided in both her body and mind and actually Sasuke mentally applauded her for her modesty and dignity.

Finesse and savoire-fair in a young woman were as appealing as it was cherished by someone who came from such a prodigious cultivated family of royals like Uchiha.

Putting their duty as blessed warriors and gifted shinobi who would never swerve from their ambitions and responsibilities aside, having it into their passionate nature to always seek for perfection in forms and dreams, Uchiha men cherished the worth of an eloquent graceful _lady_ as much as they have been strict about not to degrade their name as real men who would never disrespect a woman or give in to their carnal caprices and have occasional flings outside marriage.

And as much as heavily indoctrinated, too traditional and conservative as it was, Sasuke found it unable to drift from some of the ancient doctrines of his family albeit he would walk a different path as them and stop trying that curse of simmering hatred that always lighted the pyre of estrangement, hatred, and discrimination between them and the higher-ups.

"And when have I ever implied that you would give yourself to _other_ men?" Emphasizing it with much brazen exuding from his every pore and residing on that tempting but preposterous smirk that she would only do that with _him_ and that nuance made his ego burst to its epitome but somehow, Sakura realized that arrogance suited Uchiha like it suited any _other_ Uchiha and the fact that it was mixed with his inborn elegance, his graceful moves, his calculated movements, his Lismore figure everything about him was enigmatic, nebulous and yet tempting and skillful –even his arrogance.

What truly annoyed Sasuke was the fact that he felt something that he didn't want to feel when the Priestess was docile and delicate as she stood trapped and obsequious into his arms –not defying him, not giving him heated disapproving glances, not fighting him off when he tried to kiss her– and a fleeting tableu of her so erotic shot through his mind early making him push her aways from him–the image of a lover, the picture of a loving wife.

Oh God, he couldn't believe that he was thinking about something so vapid and sapless, what was wrong with him? Why the image of Sakura was completely denuded of any inhibitions as she watched to him openly with those big crystalline eyes almost like trying to pervade through all his mental barriers, waiting, _leering_ to him, longing for something that he could never give?

She tried so desperately moor to something tangible that could get her **closer** to him and search for his deepest inner personality, one that was not something so distant as it was submerged in his own darkness, so unreachable and _empty,_ almost making it like everything was just a bittersweet mirage; she wished to find a _connection b_ etween them but sadly enough, Sasuke absolutely deflected that timid calling coming from this woman because, as much as he knew that bonds never made one weaker, he didn't need any frail distractions like this, especially when it came to getting intimate to enemies.

Haphazardly a voice breathed in the back of his mind, _you are alone_ too, but he refused to accept it.

How naive –how foolish and so incredibly creduloused– has he been to have slept with the Priestess because his plans have crumbled to dust like the last fortress in his chest; taking baby steps to him defying his every opprobrium, she came to him armed with nothing but her love and honesty.

As much as he was in complete denial with his own desires, Sasuke knew it that what sizzled inside of him, so powerful and clear of any doubts, was as cliché as it was impossible and yet... all that he could summon into his mind coherently was the craving to lean forward and trace his lips along her own brocade lustrous lips and _kiss_ her senseless; passionately, as he would lose in the dark cherries and honey taste of her mouth.

"I don't get it," He found his voice again –distant and befuddled, rasping and strange to the hearing even in his own ears– muttering while she raised her lustrous orbs to him and he nearly drowned into those lustrous emeralds as she spellbind him with all those imbroglio of sentiments emblazoned into her eyes. "I don't get it _Priestess_."

Cupping the swell of her ivory rose cheeks with his warm palms raking his digits through the strawberry blond locks encasing her heart shaped face, Sasuke made Sakura arch her neck to tap her forehead over his own and for a split second, her breath hitched halfway her lungs.

His obsidian orbs were stormy, heated and confused, demanding an explanation, something palpable to moor against something to anchor his sanity, while his voice burned with suppressed emotions. "You are doing something to me and I can't fight against something that I can't see or understand."

How was it that instead of wanting to press her back down onto the grass that bore their disheveled imprint and take her merciless and animalistic once again, he found himself wanting to kiss her tenderly, hold her small hands into his bigger ones and have her rock with him gingerly and passionately all through the night?

What was that enigmatic feeling of strange warmth and gentle quietude passing him by and sheltering him from the outside world? "Tell me Priestess," Sasuke`s ragged voice was huskier than his normal bass guitar resonance and one octave higher betraying his inner tumult.

"What is this enigmatic power you have over me that I am unaware of? Your eyes," suddenly his husky timbre has belted to a lower key piano resonance making it look like he was talking for somewhere else distant and situated out of time no doubt of his person. "you are hypnotizing me with those eyes those damn emerald eyes of yours and the way you look at me."

A lone tear trembled at the corner of her lustrous orbs spanning along her cheek, percolating along Sasuke's thumbs while he cupped her face with his palms like trying to make sure –through the touch of his fingers– that she was not just an illusion, a Fata morgana concept, a seductive phantasm meant to entrap him and vanquish the unswerving walls within his chest.

There was so much conflict welling inside those breathtakingly expressive sapphire eyes of his that it made something fleetingly move inside Sakura's own heart touching her gingerly and pleading to be found, to be _loved._

"Why? Why are your words so calloused with me? Why are you acting so harsh we when I have done tithing to hurt you–"

"-because I am trying so much to hate you so fucking much, but I can't. I can't loathe you Priestess, can`t you fucking see it?" Self-control and discipline nearly slipped through his fingertips like golden sand on a beach in the moment he bridles in pure acrimony to her pure –still so incredibly pure– aura.

"I don't understand it and this revolts me, how can you still be so damn innocent, how?" unfortunately those were inquiries without an answer; how could he still brand her as pure when she has just given herself to him like that?

But what truly crushed Sakura on the inside was the fact that Sasuke was so adamant in resenting her and yet, she still hasn't run away.

From what she has heard of, for two people who have been so intimate together there was only love ahead without any iota of rancor but it was clearly that she had lived into an... illusion.

She kept staring into those breathtakingly superb obsidian eyes like wanting to touch their bottom and discover the pearls residing so deep inside and he kept on burning through the myriads of gold and green tea irises, exploring, searching for an answer. "A Priestess and her ineffable..."

Before she could decipher those Delphic epistles of those intelligible lips, they were pressed firmly against hers in a haphazardly _kiss_ and she couldn't eschew from him because her face was framed by his fingertips forcing her to arch her neck to receive his kiss.

It was not that Sakura could pull back from him because in the moment when those sensual lips of Sasuke met hers again, they ignited the same pyre inside her body turning it into lush liquid seeping through her in melted flames and, from the fleeting moment when she felt completely alone, devastated and without any purpose in this life, Sasuke's kiss made her feel like a bird returning to its **nest** on spring, warm, familiar and she nearly melted into his arms.

She reciprocated to the uneven strokes of his lips, clasping and suckling her lower one in the moment when she realized that this incredibly dazzled man was the anchor to moor to the ground when she felt it fly from under her feet.

They were each other`s lighthouse to shine in the middle of the storm when the compass shown a fallacious direction, lost and returning to a safe place.

The same familiar warm tingles into the pits of her stomach summoned the same feverous desire for him in ways unexplainable and yet the fact that her heart drummed a faster rhythm inside her chest, was proof enough that Sakura truly felt _something_ for him; something strong.

Pulling apart from her while she reveled into the savor of his luscious lips, Sakura nearly missed the tortuous look in Sasuke`s blizzard eyes, the plethora of conflicting emotions and inner tumult while his steadfast voice vibrated with more emotions that ever been for; he was starting to lose his composure and while there was no one around the witness his rare moment of lowering down his walls, he allowed himself to unhinge those bottle up feelings –ones that his Uchiha genetics bound him to keep them hidden and suppressed.

And what he confessed bluntly to her in a rasped voice growling like a hurt tiger made her heart skip a beat and her orbs to get more vitreous and luscious. "I want you. Damn you Priestess for making me crazy to have you."

In less than three days that woman made him go berserk and insanity enveloped him like by the sweetest torture granting him the narcotized sensation of bliss and oblivion, all by the taste of her lips on his. "Sasuke–"

He cut the wind out of her lungs by capturing her stammering lips between his own again in a hard bruising wet kiss and her digits sought for a lifesaver getting a full fist of his sable hair clinging to him desperately while Sasuke let his palms descend along the curve of her lower back to grip her curvaceous rear and slammed his hips against her own, hard, chiseled with sinewy muscles and hot with desire making her melt into his liquid passion.

Sasuke couldn't deny it any longer, she was an addiction and no matter how much self-discipline he had, his throat burned crisp with the need to feel her droplets of nectar into his mouth and give him nourishment from her life. It has been such a long time since anything made Sasuke feel so alive, so enfranchised.

Her body pressed against his intimately, warm and tender made him realize that there were things in this world which one has never had but yearned to taste them since forever and she was just the aphrodisiac that he needed.

It was unusual to see the Priestess so docile and almost obsequious, but that was only the case with _him_ because had it have been someone else in his place and not Sasuke, then Sakura wouldn't have indulged into such dark desires and pleasure.

It must be obsession what he felt for her because there was no way in hell that he might be capable of feeling anything remotely affectionate for the priestess –or for anyone else for the matter.

And to confirm it –in his zealous fit of denial– that confronting his own inner self and dig for the truth –that he was not in love or anything equally absurd– he kissed her again this time deeper with more passion and ferocity than before as his lavish lips literarily burned along her own, capturing them in a possessive clasp as they massaged and gummed on her own with unhinged delight and a wave of heat rippled along her spine and belly traveling along her thighs as her knees melted under the power of his kiss.

Half in surprise and a half lost in pleasure has a feminine throaty moan vibrated through their kiss while Sakura's jittery legs gave away and she nearly collapsed into Sasuke's strong arms but the hold he had around her petite shoulders and flute waist was sturdy and posessive.

Her moist tongue albeit gutless and still portraying an innocent diffidence rolled out of her mouth to sweep along Sasuke`s one, playing with him the same cadence of pure passion and she could not deny it anymore; she _ached_ for him terribly in ways that Sakura never desired for anything in her life and it was not only because she was used to abjuring from any temptations, but because there was an innate impulse imbued within her heart to _correspond_ to Sasuke –even though the risk for him not to feel the same as her was a certainty.

When one discovers the grace of a demon, it's easy to confuse sin to Paradise when Sasuke was grazing her bare skin with the diaphanous flight of a dragonfly and every shiver in delight lost along the tremors of the beat of his music.

Uchiha was divine; he was the concept of every woman's wettest dark fantasy, a mirage of penumbras and lights and she drown into it.

His conviction was sophisticated and his caresses precise, passionate and yet gingerly and almost lovingly; he embodied the paradigm of amorousness, pleasure, and eroticism without being vulgar or concupiscent or superficial and that was antagonistic to his equally inexperienced state.

Never in her life would have Sakura surmised that Uchiha was pure from that aspect and it was almost surreal and questionable whether to trust him that he was a virgin –or _was_ innocent– because his gestures, those amazingly delicious touches, his seemingly polished kinesics, the fluency and fluidity of his moves –so expert, deep and skillful– were definitely not feats that someone unpolished would have and yet, he was definitely a proud representative of his Uchiha lineage.

A clan that was blessed not only with superb genetics and physiques but also splendid understanding of a human emotions, desired and perfectly capable of responding to the most subtle cravings of the body _and_ _conscious_ _,_ by being capable of penetrating the depths of mind and understand the body language like no others; and that was probably the reason why Sasuke has been capable of opening up those gates to a perfect illusion of pleasure and give her the taste of ambrosia and now Sakura's throat felt crisp and eager for _more_.

She called it a mirage, a chimera simply because she did not trust Sasuke to be honest with her, and his satire and derision were making her wonder whether he was simply toying with her mind or there as indeed something that was sizzling into his mind and chest –because of _her_.

And that was the reason why shockingly, it was Sakura the one to detach her digits from his lustrous lush raven mane and let them slide along his sculpted pectorals, pushing him firmly back and unlocking her lips from his own panting and taking two unsettled steps back nearly tripping on her own feet, gasping for oxygen and having a mysterious fire in her glazed eyes  
–one that was even perplexing Sasuke.

"S-Stop... Stop playing these egregious mind games with me Sasuke. My transgression is already grievous enough even without you twisting and corrupting my _mind_ too."

She implied that Sasuke has managed to corrupt her _body_ staining her innocence when she gave herself to him willingly and for free –without expecting anything else in return from him.

Taken aback by the sudden turnabout of her attitude when he imagined it that he has finally managed to shatter and slay every single reticence that she might have into submerging into the depths of his waters, Sasuke`s handsome visage crashed into a semi-frown, trying his best to recollect his sprinkled imbroglio of figments, focusing on her and nearly glaring.

"Don`t you even dare to play the mighty _kunoichi_ with me and make me look like a malefactor when you indulged into sleeping with me voluntarily without any restraint. You let me have you because you _wanted_ me and not because I _forced_ you, so stop being a hypocrite now. It`s the trait that I most despise in a human being."

Somewhere tears welled along the curve of her Egyptian cat orbs but Sakura held her ground unswerving in front of his icy comeback and, ransacking a trembling hand through her damp coral locks pulling them backwards, Sakura nearly slurred to him being obviously hurt by his harshness. "So you _do_ hate me after all... then why have you... why did you do _it_ with me if you despise me that much?"

That woman was distorting the meaning of his words and made him sound like a hooligan when in reality he confessed to her –something that he never did before– that he _wanted_ her genuinely for a reason that he could not fathom, but apparently the Priestess was suspicious by nature and also incredulous; he could not blame her for her hesitancy though, because Sasuke was hardly the type of sweet dependable type of man, but his gestures and attitude so far betrayed no inscrutable harbinger of wicked ambitions.

He _made love_ to her because... well the reason why he had her without teetotalism and any remorse was definitely not the one that he proclaimed in a fit of an ego burst in front of his comrades, but the fact that it _affected_ him and made him unabashedly caress her in ways so elegant and graceful that he would only touch the memory of his mother –with no tinge of a Cimmerian shade tainting his heart– remained undeniably and shining in antithesis to the doubt that was engraved deeply into Sakura`s tear-jerking stare.

"I don`t loathe you, Priestess, that is only in your imagination and in fact... I don`t even care about what _you_ think about me at all."

No, if anything, this woman was definitely deaf or living in a heavy denial because he has just openly admitted it to her that his heart and mind refused to nourish feelings of disdain and acrimony when thinking about her no matter how much she chafed him, brimming through his system with such labyrinthine emotions –ones that Sasuke was desperately trying to negate– so as to circumlocute them to do more damage and play as an obvious _weakness_.

"I don`t know... what is going on inside your mind." Sakura deflected her emerald orbs from his intense obsidian ones not capable of holding her ground in front of _that_ glance and albeit Sasuke was not openly glaring fiercely at her so as to make her inwardly thwart from his, but those obsidian pools were two cold judges which were capable of so much emotional genius serving, noticing every single subtle gesture and reading her mind like an open scroll.

Dipping her head down in complete guilt and embarrassment, Sakura palmed her cheeks and her voice shattered like an icicle colliding with the ground and spilling million crystals of ice along the pavements, whispering as realization of what has transpired between them –and what was still undergoing as her heart was thirsty for him and his touches pleading and begging to be nourished from his nectar taste– more to herself than to Sasuke.

 _She wanted him to kiss her again with those slightly bruised appetizing lips more than anything on the world._

"Oh, _Kami_ what am _I_ doing? What have I _done_? I am an unforgivable wrongdoer. I have committed an unpardonable _sin..._ "

And the worst part of it was that no matter how much she tried to come to terms with the Delphic feelings that were churning inside her conscience, was that Sakura was _not_ regretting making love to Sasuke Uchiha –with the epitome of a _demon_ in the form of the sweetest sin.

Sensing that he needed to do something to soothe the lady being incapable to withstand her glimmering tears and those rutilant ivory cheeks going flush with remorse and discomfiture that were making his chest ache and his muscles to tense and throb –like urging him to do something, move and react to her uneasiness, Sasuke sauntered two graceful steps to her, not bothered by their nudity or the fact that they resembled Adam and Eve reenacting the tableu of their chasing out of Paradise –two sinners in love connected by fate.

Coming right before the tormented lady and trying to keep the chagrin out of his gestures, Sasuke wrapped his digits around her wrists and gently so as not to prove it to her that she was right in assuming all those indecent wicked things about him, Sasuke tucked on her hands and prayed her hands off her cheeks keeping her palms between them as he inched closer to her, bad her firmly albeit his tone lacked malice.

"Stop this woman because you are ridiculous in your archaic assumptions about basically everything. Stop self-blaming you for something that you are _not_."

Tears were burning under her fluttering eyelashes when she snapped her glossy emerald eyes to him trying to snatch her hands from his grasp, but Sasuke refused to let her go and she nearly bridled at his audacity to intervene in those sacred traditions regarding the concept of a Priestess of Tea and her blazon.

"What would _you_ know about my purpose and my life? Someone who is absorbed by darkness cannot be conscious of how Paradise looks like and the fact that I have just transgressed one of the most sacred rules of a Prieste–"

"–says who?" Sasuke was nearly on the brink of seething at how narrow-minded and absorbed by those archaic teaching that woman was for someone so savvy and considered astute and intuitive.

"Your master? Your _Kami-sama_? Is this what _you_ really think? Because in my eyes, no matter what you do Priestess, you will never be anything else but _pure_ like snow. I have once met someone who was similar to you."

He couldn`t believe that the Priestess made him reminisce about something so trivial from his past but he found himself disclosing it to her anyway.

"His name was _Haku_ from the Land of Waves that Naruto and I have once fought. A young boy who was so helplessly innocent and incorruptible enough that his spirit still found its way to Heavens, even if he was used as a tool at the disposal of a bloody demon, an S-ranked criminal hunted down and low in all the Five Nations. Both of you cannot be tainted by anything, not even the world of shinobi which is the epitome of darkness, corruption, greediness and mischievousness."

"He was...?" Curiously, her stare flipped from grim and tear-jerking to inquisitive and interested in what he had to say, absorbing every notion that rolled out of Sasuke`s mellifluent tongue since Sakura knew that the Uchiha hardly talked nonsenses or in vain. "someone who is pure _and_ still a shinobi? I... I am n-nothing like that–"

"-don`t you even dare to fake modesty with me Priestess, because even you know that I am right. Here I am trying to get you one more step into _my_ decadent world –the supreme paradise of the demons– while you never stopped glowing like an angel. Heck, even someone as disinterested and stoic like _me_ is capable of seeing it clearly."

It was not like Sasuke was simply a standoffish superficial man whose only zeal was to bring pain and make everything in his way perish, no, on the contrary, he was way more profound and intuitive than one would believe.

What truly made him fret was how much she affected him in ways that no one should and those eyes... heavens those emerald orbs were vivid and refulgent and captivating him with every blink and every shimmering.

"I am – _ehm_ – you don`t have to call me a _P-Priestess_ anymore since… well I have g-given myself to _you_..."

Something in the way she subtly emphasized a feeling of _belonging_ to him in transcendental ways made Sasuke`s breath hitch halfway his lungs and his obsidian orbs nearly sparkled with an incandescent possessiveness and... something deeper upon realizing what she wanted to say with that but he kept silent and allowed her to continue.

Blushing madly between muttering missives and averting her orbs from those implacable expressive sapphire ones knowing it all too well that there was something that a Priestess _must_ do if she ever gave her purity to a man as a vestige of her losing her purity. "I am unworthy to bear that enshrined title... I am unworthy to be referred to as a _Priestess_."

Somehow, Sasuke has already deemed it as reasonable enough but his more enfranchised and modern conceptions didn`t dwelve too much into something so feeble. "And? How shall I be calling you then?"

Because there is no way in hell that someone so noble and cultivated like an Uchiha will ever address a lady, be it a prisoner, a friend or even an enemy by the gruesome vulgar literature of _'woman'_ or libidinous an uncivilized as the notorious philanderers –Kiba and Suigetsu– and call her a _'_ _babe_ _'._

Nipping on her lower lip like she was ruminating and pondering about her options and not letting Sasuke see what was going on through her mind and body as something jarred inside her in the form of a lock being forced open inside her freeing something that was pleading to be released for so much time, Sakura`s incandescent orbs went softer and shyer than earlier making her look obsequious and younger than before, stunning him with her confession. "Since I... am _not_ pure anymore then you –who was the first man in my life– are entitled to know my _real_ name."

Oh, that was interesting! Not wanting to break a supposedly solemn and sentimental moment by being his usual sarcastic self, Sasuke quelled a victorious smirk and let her mumble her name, being extremely curious as in how would they name such a gossamer cherry blossom petal and when she disclosed her name to him on her own accord, he nearly tittered at the irony of it.

"S-Sakura... you can call me _Sakura_." She was the prosopopeia of nature and rebirth and the embodiment of grace, love, and innocence just like her name suggested; the Priestess of Tea was named after the avatar of the spring and regeneration –the cherry blossom trees representing the apotheosis of the spring season.

It was so fitting to her avant-garde features reminding Sasuke of the oriental vibrating shades of those ancient Chinese warriors; sensual, beautiful, smart and sophisticated, glace and suave and at the same time, iridescent, buoyant, luxurious and blessed with an incredible finesse and cultivation.

 _Sakura_... Sasuke murmured her exquisite name in his head over and over again finding a proper resonance to roll it out of his mouth and when he did, something magnetic traipsed along her entire body making her shiver.

"Sakura." The way Sasuke spelled her name in his leathery tobacco elegant voice, so sensual, low and dark adding a subtle tinge of erotic into it was pure enrapture. "I finally found out your name... _Sakura_."

He _earned it_!

Amused by the reactions of her body and the way her emerald crystals exploded in million twinkles and star dust, Sasuke enjoyed the power that knowing her name brought to him and the way she was reacting –enjoying– at how _he_ was enunciating it, so Sasuke couldn't help but chant it again and he got the discounted effect; she literarily went lax into his arms.

A name was a strong concept; it was the blazon of someone`s lineage, the symbol of his inheritance and his roots, the anchor to his history, to his family and birthplace, it stood as a proof of _affinity_ and kinship and thus by disclosing it to him now meant that she was allowing him to get deeper into her conscience and life; somehow, that made something warm and familiar traverse Sasuke`s system by just finding out her name.

"Just Sakura?" He was curious to find out what her surname was because that would be the linkage to her family and the mystery behind her person but surprisingly, her orbs filled with sadness again as she shook her head slowly and breathed to him. "No family name?"

"I do not have any knowledge about my family or if I _do_ have a family that is."

"Aren`t you lying to me? I have used my Sharingan to see through your deception and no matter how much I tried to focus and how deeply I tried to venture through the maze of your distorted memories, something was strange about you. I couldn`t find your place of birth, a connection to any of the villages or your name for the matter. How can I make sure that you are not trying to fool me?"

He was tormented by all those fugitive hallucinating memories that he memorized from her scattered brain but she looked equally oblivious and lost into a nebula about her past.

"Just like the treasure that I am guarding into my Shrine, my name is protected by a powerful barrier cast upon my memories, one that only _I_ can control. Your Sharingan cannot penetrate through it no matter how much you try to focus. The only one who can disclose it is me willingly. But you are correct, I do not know where do I come from or who my parents are."

"Did somebody purposely erase your memories?" Something in that concept of fine manipulation made Sasuke bristle as it started to disconcert him at the idea of someone being mischievous and perverted enough to mess up with that helpless girl`s life like that, using her as a marionette –it being the reason why Sasuke and Naruto decided to deflect from the Leaf.

"I don`t know. I do not _need_ to know something so unimportant since my only purpose is to pray to the Heavens, help the ones in need and protect the–"

"-don`t be a fool Sakura," Sasuke cut her short again because he couldn`t possibly be digesting the same broken tape about her _cliché_ role as Sakura was chanting it like a mantra –brainwashed– actually believing in every word that came out of her mouth, albeit he was not supportive that she truly _meant_ it. "How can you not be curious about your origins, about where your roots are or who your parents are? You are so foolish."

She was a bird without wings only an open endless sky to soar without any destination and even imagining himself being so completely adrift and so very lost nearly made Sasuke sympathetic and that spoke volumes since he was hardly the type of guy to feel anything remotely affectionate about anyone.

Seeing all that loneliness mirrored into her vitreous orbs –eyes like his own– begging him and silently pleading with him for something that he couldn't understand was heartbreaking; she did not respond, only stared into his orbs like searching for liberation and salvation inside.

"Damn it Sakura..." This woman was a fallen star without a name; a gift from the skies to the mortals –a gift for _him_ – and now Sasuke understood her tendency to cling to him and the others; Sakura was looking for something palpable, something to lean on and something to associate with and currently, that was him –her captor.

That was the reason why she was not feeling imprisoned by him no matter how many times he kept on stating it that she was his prisoner; he could never bind a spirit without a corpse, she was free by definition but she was also an enigma, an illusion floating on the limbs of a smoke with no destination in sometimes Sasuke wondered whether she was truly real.

Better the prisoner of someone who claimed a possession on her and gave her a place to return to than being a postcard with no address or a wave without the ocean.

Was the Priestess of Tea real or just the cruelest and more elegant _Genjutsu_? He got the answer in her enigmatic unique eyes. The lucent of diamond inside her clear eyes and the emotions suppressed into the kernel of that emerald was _real_ so very real and beautiful; she couldn't be a mirage.

"Listen to me, you have to show me exactly what you are safeguarding Sakura." The urgency in his chocolate sateen voice made her snap out of the haze and her jade orbs collided with his demanding obsidian ones, nearly gasping as she choked on air at his demand. "You have to tell me the truth about the Shrine before the enemy–"

* * *

 _"-Clear! Hurry up, we are close to the_ _outskirts_ _of the Leaf! The barriers are down and the Hokage has been defeated!_ The clamor echoing from the distance and the unmistakable sound of tweaked dried branches and the ruffling into the grass alerted Sasuke and Sakura about the approaching steps of a horde of strangers.

Involuntarily Sasuke`s fingers tightened around Sakura`s wrists as she whirled her head backwards tensing and scooping closer to him like seeking for a shield, while the Uchiha simply flickered his keen hawk orbs glancing sideways to depict the source of the commotion and the clamor from the ushered whispers.

His tenue was discompassionate and stoic, but the sense to _protect_ Sakura grew unexplainably feral inside him.

"Sasuke," Sakura breathed to the Uchiha as she leaned into him lulled by the sense of security that his body warmth and his touch exuded, while sharpening her hearing so as to depict the number and location of the approaching people, clearly understanding that the possibility of them being shinobi –taking into account their momentum and the peculiar sound of metallic ninja tools. "what is going on there? Who are they?"

She arched her neck to gaze at Uchiha`s sculpted profile finding his expression taciturn and unruffled while his obsidian orbs shimmered with the unequivocal hue of claret while his Sharingan tomatoes were piercing through the Cimmerian shade in search of the ruckus that perturbed the serenity of the picturesque landscape, being completely quiet and sheer relaxed, but she knew better than to be fooled.

It was his general aura that volte-face completely and, albeit his lithe stance was seemingly composed and lenitive, his striking unmistakable ninja senses and his attention were sober and more than ready to impale if necessary and it was exactly _that_ immeasurable proof of how incredibly strong and lethal he was that Sakura came to realize now that he was –for the first time– _not_ her enemy, but an ally, or a protector.

"Sasuke, I think that we should _erase_ our presence–"

"–there are six ninjas probably Chunin level approaching us from the west probably taking advantage of the lack of guards and the shattered barrier that is not surrounding the Leaf anymore, heading right to us. Their forehead protectors has the symbol of the _earth_ ebbed on it but it is scratched."

"Which means that they are _nuke-nin_ ," Sakura concluded for him she too focusing entirely on listening to every sound that the nature was conveying to her and finding every single breach and perturbation into the nature`s equilibrium and thus she was aware of their purpose; what was truly phenomenal was the fact that neither Sasuke and nor her were bothered to hide their nude forms from the enemy for the same sole reason –the need to protect the Leaf Village as shinobi _belonging_ to it was overshadowing the impulse to protect their decency and modesty.

"Aa. Let`s go." Not giving Sakura another chance to question his gesture, Sasuke swelled swiftly on his heel and in one fluid motion, he tucked on Sakura`s wrist taking her with him dashing back to the frozen lake as he sensed that those shinobi were heading to their location.

"Wait, Sasuke where are we–"

"-Keep it low, you don`t want them to find us." In his haste to conceal their presence, Sasuke couldn`t be bothered to do his ass with clothes since those shinobi were subpart to him, but he did not miss to consider Sakura`s condition –it still bothered him that such an enticing woman was naked and radiating off all the sensuality in the world and chasing _him_ – but it would have been idiot to grab any articles of clothing while they submerged into the water and thus get them wet in no time.

Wordlessly, Sakura allowed him to lead them back to the lake and just in the exact moment when a group of missing Earth shinobi pop up from behind the fir trees, stopping close enough to their previous location, Sasuke tapped against the wooden wharf leaping straight into the water and shattering its surface while taking a complacent Sakura following him suit as she did not have too many other options at her disposal but to follow him obediently –trusting _him_ and his shinobi skills.

And Sasuke truly did not disappoint her, on the contrary, even though Sakura was not a novice at swimming as she took a generous gulp of oxygen into her lungs understanding that they would probably need to remain submerged for a longer amount of time, immediately as the pressure has pulled her towards the freezing bottom, a warm –still incredibly warm– muscular arm has wrapped protectively around her middle section, easily bringing her flush towards a muscular chest.

Their motion was slowed down twice because of the rinse around and their bodies rippled along the shadows of the water as the diaphanous contours paled into the myriads around making they look like gossamer spirits in an almost poetic way.

Wrapping her hands around Sasuke`s chiseled torso understanding the implication of his gesture, Sakura glued herself to him while his sinewy arm wrapped around her from keeping her glued to him and, using his left hand as a paddle, he maneuvered their forms along the stream swimming under the water like mermaids in such a fluent unperturbed manner that made Sakura`s heart skip a beat and her lungs not to feel the heavy pressure of the water and the need to breath –they were floating through velvet and not swimming; Sasuke was so graceful and incredibly fast as lightening, he was incredible.

At the back of her mind, Sakura vaguely grew alerted over the fact that she was not that troubled by the fact that she was completely nude and glued to an equally barren Sasuke Uchiha and his deliciously sculpted body, in fact, she felt so natural to be stripped in front of him and trapped into his arms, almost as natural and pastoral as Adam and Eve portraying the first part of sinners who traded Paradise and immortality to sin and temptation, but she felt herself stupidly _trust_ him to lead her to a safer place and shelter her while she knew perfectly well that she was his prisoner and enemy.

Belonging to Sasuke suddenly felt very erotic and playful and the concept of him fostering and spooning her stirred a frizzy feeling into the pits of her belly and propagated into her chest, with different connotations.

She would have liked to know where they were heading but knowing that the lake has been in the administration of the Uchiha clan and thus Sasuke most likely knew his surroundings like the back of his pocket, she didn't bother herself to be perturbed by something so unimportant, simply closing her orbs as she tried to preserve the oxygen supply in her lungs, gluing her cheek over Sasuke`s sculpted shoulder and reveling into this unique feeling of being _sheltered_ by someone like him.

"Boss, someone has been here recently. These footprints and the tattered grass are still fresh." A sturdy tall male dropped on his right knee rubbing a smidgen of the wet soil between his digits, bringing it closer to his nostrils sniffing on it so as to collect as much information as possible about a potential enemy.

Another missing-nin has appeared beside him studying the simple female kimono and the pair of pants and sandals scattered near to the edge of the lake, frowning at the bizarre scene. "Women and men clothes. A couple maybe?"

"I see now," His partner`s lips curled into a vicious grin as he started to titter manically when inspiration stroke him. "Two lovey-doveys having a night affair, huh? It explains the print into the grass and the stains of _blood_ and fluids into the soil."

"Heh... some naughty stuff going on around here. I see it know that the rumors were true. The Hokage has been assassinated by a villainous group who seemed to have ravaged the village and now only the obnoxious civilians remained helpless and unprotected."

"Luck is on our side," Four additional shinobi emerged from the shadows after scouting the surroundings finding nothing concealed into the maze of the twilight, only a sober silence as a colder zephyr blew through their clothes. "it looks like no one has noticed our presence here."

Their Leader, an older shinobi with a huge scar creasing his tanned face revealed his imposing form as a gleam made his forehead glow into the light of the stars emphasizing his deflection from the Village snarling at the only sensory shinobi in their organization. "Do you sense any chakra signature or any trace of chakra lingering around this place?"

The aforementioned nin was having his hands curled into a distinctive hand sign which allowed him to focus and expand his chakra around the area shaking his head slowly. "No. We are the only ones around, Sir."

"Good. What about those clothes? Where are the owners?" The leader`s inquisitive glance shuffled from the tossed articles of clothing frowning while realizing that they might have been hiding into the lake otherwise why would someone leave their clothes abandoned –be it civilians lovers trapped into a night romance– or shinobi and disappear without a trace.

"Do you think that they are ninjas concealing their chakra from us because they sensed us approaching?" Being the savviest shinobi in the group and a former Jonin he was more attentive than his band of mediocre but faithful Chunins.

"I don`t think that, Sir," His sensory type comrade joined the man as he padded to the wharf crossing his arms behind his back and studying the still surface of the lake intently trying to figure out their game while catch the slightest ripple into that glossy mirror-like surface, finding none, not a single bubble simmering to give away the location of a person exhaling underwater.

"I have been in sensory mode ever since we got further into the forest but I encountered no one. We managed to pass unnoticed."

"I wonder about that..." It was not that his boss was mistrusting his comrade because that would be unjustified on the contrary it was the others that he did not trust and experience has taught him to never let his guard drop dow–

-SPLASH!

"Right there!" A mini shukrinen whirled like a windmill slicing the air as the missing-nin dropped down into a fighting stance and aimed to the object the shadow that pierced through the water aiming to his face while splashing droplets of water all around its silhouette.

Blood sprayed from the luscious body as the shuriken slayed through the soft skin and ebbed into a nearby willow tree and the sudden shift into the serene atmosphere made all the shinobi join their leader all revealing their weapons of choice focusing into the distance. "What is it, Boss? What was tha–"

"–damn it!" Clicking on his tongue and running a hand through his cocoa brown curly hair, the nin exhaled in pure chagrin lowering his hands that were already twined into the seal of his distinctive Jutsu, snarling.

"A goddamn _fish_." Turning his back on the lake his shadow spanned along the twharf as he headed back to the surface kicking one of Sasuke`s sandals aside with the tip of his pointed shoes, not noticing that they were part of a _shinobi_ attire. "C`mon, let`s get to the Village. I want to raid it before the dawn."

Taking one last peep behind him at the abnormally quietude around him considering the fact that the pile of clothes and the obvious night _activities_ betrayed the presence of other people who were nowhere near in sight –when his sensory type ninja in his team assured him that he depicted no one in the area– was making him cautious, but even he couldn`t have sensed the presence of anyone else in the area; they were the only one wandering under the shimmering stars.

"I don`t like this place guys, it has a nasty vibe to it." One of the Earth shinobi noted when the nature –in the presence of the enemy and not someone from the Uchiha clan or the Priestess who was conjoined with the nature itself– became a hostile place, colder and inhospitable cursing under his breath at the sudden dropping in temperature, following the meandering shadows of his comrades as they were speeding back to the forest and into the Village.

Sasuke was cautious and smart enough not to let any visible traces behind him and that was the reason why he scooped one peculiar article of clothing in his haste that would have given him away immediately –his T-Shirt since it bore the Uchiha fan crest sewed on the material and that would automatically give away their position and confirmed their suspicion –that there were ninja concealing their presences somewhere near in their vicinity, waiting to strike, but he had enough common sense to give it to Sakura and not leave her denuded.

"They are obviously targeting the Leaf Village as they probably took the shortest road to the Main Gates or... what has been left from them..."

Sakura whispered to the ebony haired Uchiha who was having his back turned to her as they were both ensconcing behind the lavish vegetation at the end of the lake where the water got denser because of the mood and the lotus flowers floating above the surface, taking a sinuous path through the maze of lush willow trees.

Sasuke realized that people were naturally driven by ancient ways of thinking and someone with a more modern overview was branded as lunatic or extremist. "Now that`s some solid intuition that you have Sakura."

He responded sarcastically but what made the said woman`s heart hitch midday her lungs was the fact that he said her real name still no being used to be called by her real name.

"And? Are we going to just permit them to ravage the Leaf Village just like that while being simple voyeurs and doing absolutely nothing to stop them?" She missed seeing how he flinched when she said 'we' implying that they were a team or having a connection.

"If you can do that fine it is your personal problem but know that I _cannot_ and I will definitely not permit them to attempt to destroy what has been left from my beloved Village without doing nothing to prevent–"

"-will you EVER shut up a Sakura?" Sasuke hissed and rasped and she pouted at him frowning comically.

She couldn't see his orbs veiled by his lavish ebony hair that ruffled into the wind sensually framing his profile but they were bleeding red and spinning that star shaped pattern focusing plotting scheming observing and calculating and… smirking in pure excitement as his Uchiha blood sizzled as a volcano revving through his veins. "I am trying to focus here and you are disturbing me."

In fact, it was the another way around because he was the one stark naked being a disturbance to her –damn traitorous eyes which could simply not look back from this superb man especially his sculpted imposing back and his toned... _ass_ and rippling thighs.

 _Oh my dear Kami what am I doing?!_

She felt her cheeks combust and bleeding rutilant in flush embarrassment. "Well, you still have not answered my question. Why have you diverted their attention with that fish? We could have swum to the shore just using the vegetation as camouflage. There was no need for you to create such a ruckus Sasuke."

Was she lecturing him? Uchiha resisted the need to roll his eyes because he will lose the focus on the target and she was already disrupting his train of thoughts and scheming. He didn't need to explain himself to her now, did he?

"I did it because I wanted them to become suspicious and edgy and lure the leader out. He won't be fooled into thinking that the pile of clothes that I intentionally left behind, our disappearance and a fish jumping from the water at this late hour when they are supposed to sleep into the mood at the bottom of the lake is going to trick him."

"So were you just testing his techniques? Apart from basic ninja reflexes, he has shown nothing impressive so far and in fact..." This is the moment when realization simmered into her brain as kindling the bulb inside her head. "...he didn't reveal anything to you meaning that... you were right! He is suspicious about his surroundings."

"Hn." He simply used his earmark laconic answer and she understood that he was agreeing with her way of thinking. He was a smart shinobi way more versatile, savvy and conniving than those fools, she would give him that.

They both kept on staring at how the enemy did a short hand sign and then they proceeded to leap past the vegetation and dash back into the forest not sparing another glance backwards which was already suspicious.

"Tch," Sasuke clicked on his tongue in seemingly displeasure and vexation and suddenly his chakra spiked up alarmingly; Sakura felt it around her wrist and into his bloodcurdling atmosphere slowly getting more and more accustomed to his body language, following in admiration every smidgen of his fluid moves and sharp reflexes as he spiked his chakra and stance like preparing for battle and she was confused at his conniption. "fools."

"Sasu–" Speed of lightning has been challenged for the record of passing Sakura by without blinking when Sasuke`s muscular arm curled around her waist in a swift reeling motion and, pivoting on his heel as sharply and precise as a hawk descending from the blue infinite sky just in time for him to avoid the blow of a kunai tossed in their direction, he saved Sakura from a lethal blow.

"-Oh! hey, wait–"

"-So," The Iwa leader of the group of missing criminals started teasingly smirking presumptuously to the pair as Sasuke shielded the half nude Priestess with his lithe form as he politely offered her his shirt to cover her modesty, glaring at the male before him with such a fervent glare in his now wine tinged spiral irises, hypnotically slithering through his conscious and unfazed by the fact that he was completely barren in front of the enemy. "this is where our two lost love-doves were hiding, huh?"

 _Something is not right but I cannot put my finger on it… the air around, the atmosphere, this lavish tension that does not seem normal, the air and the sound of the wind that has a mystique resonance… what is going on here?_ For someone who has been in perfect unison with the nature itself, Sakura found herself trapped into a tumult of new sensations as she peeped at the enemies from behind Sasuke`s protective shadow, tapping her back against the trunk behind, feeling a lump form down her throat as even the taste of air and the oxygen in her lungs felt abnormal and unnatural, but she simply couldn't explain that sensation.

A fugitive glance to the man`s gleaming forehead protector stood as a silent witness that he was indeed pertaining to the shameful ranks of a missing shinobi, as he and his comrades surrounded them standing defiantly and arrogantly in front of a completely stoic and casually staring back at him Uchiha Sasuke.

He pressed Sakura to the fir tree trunk behind her with his left palm placed on her tummy inwardly cursing that he didn't have his katana with him to slay those fuckers in half and save his chakra reserves but since it was already formidable and strong and sensing that those opponents were nowhere near his level, albeit they were not weak either –probably Chunin and Jonin if he was to give their Boss credit for being so brave, he simply shrugged like having an internal monologue and completely ignored the men before him which only flamed their fury.

He didn't fret like they would have expected, only glanced like they were filth under his shoe. "The Sharingan, huh?" The leader mocked with a slight curl of his lips downwards scowling in displeasure. "I see it now... you are _that_ Uchiha Sasuke that everyone talks about."

The other missing nine exchanged brief glances and Sasuke let a ghost of a smirk creased his features sensing their fear emanating from their quivering forms, knees jittering as they tried their best not to rattle out that they were completely panic-strike and would rather hurdle out of his eyesight; eyes which were as formidable as they were lethal.

"Hn," he only responded in his taciturn brazen manner defying them completely. "you are lying. People hardly talk about me albeit I would admit that my group`s reputation is quite notorious."

"How is that?" The Leader frowned hearing his evasive retort. Sasuke only smirked wider as his words were derisive and his tone superior, rude and ironic so as to enhance the difference in strength between them.

"Because usually before they even get the chance to spread rumors about me, I am already done killing them all." This made fear bolt along their spines and it was not even because of the easiness in his voice while speaking so casually about impalement, but the venomous malice latched in his voice and the reputed sadistic pleasure to stain his hands with blood, ravage, conquer and kill in cold blood.

"Of course, it is only bad karma that you just happened to stumble upon me while I was _amusing_ myself terribly and not to mention that the property that you have so casually trespassed," A fugitive glance around and a quick nod to the lake that was now resting behind the shinobi`s slightly trembling backs as they followed his line of vision made them all nearly choke on air at his declaration. "belongs to _my_ family."

Which only meant that they were at tremendous disadvantage since the Uchiha`s former training grounds were no stranger to an Uchiha heir who has been raised there.

Not only that but his chauvinistic remark bore another hidden message as the nuance in his language has not gone unnoticed by Sakura realizing that he also included a very beautiful lady behind him which only nourished their assumptions that they were _lovers._

Instead of being affronted by his affirmation, Sakura felt something bulge into her chest as her heart picked up its pace feeling Sasuke's skin radiating an inviting warmth and she placed a palm on his back unconsciously, surprisingly he said nothing; he was keeping her trapped between the tree and his body but she didn't feel constricted or caged, on the contrary she felt protected, shielded, fostered by him for the first time someone cared for her safety.

"Well well… that's too bad for you," the leader pressed his palms in the familiar sign of an earth symbol Jutsu. Sasuke didn't eve flinch as he felt his resolve crumble slowly under the intensity of his Sharingan eyes. "because now you and your whore are going to Hell just because you dared to cross paths with us and stay in our way to rob the Leaf Village."

"Yeah, and after we are done whooping your sorry asses then we can conveniently devastate it upon the content of our hearts and turn it into ashes!"

It should have been wise for them to just shut up and don't insult Sakura and threaten to ravage _his_ Village but Sasuke already surmised that they were not that brainy to begin with.

Oh– he was definitely having so much fun!

"Burning _it_ down," the Uchiha said as his irises swelled like carousel ride getting fractal and minutes lattice in pattern –dark and demonic– symbolizing darkness. "is my job exclusively." he only said while they fluttered their rapid hand signs but to his Sharingan eyes, they moved explicitly in slow motion.

" _Earth Style: Earth Devastation_!" Earthquake as a giant aperture in the ground shattered the vegetation and the soil under their feet as Sasuke curled ah arm around Sakura and hurled upwards to land on a nearby thick branch to support their body weight and she fretted out climbing into his ears.

"Sasuke what are you doing, we have to hinder their movements so as they will not dash to the Leaf Villa–"

"–relax and stop shouting into my head you are beyond annoying." He interjected offhandedly seemingly rather blasé than disconcerted or inflamed by the sudden collision and it was exactly that conniption of his fainéant but intuitive and on guard mannerism what made Sasuke so abstruse.

Something in the way he seemed to be letting her out of that brouhaha when her beloved Village was netted into an imminent attack was brimming into Sakura`s skull momentarily turning her fleeting aplomb burst into an escalating chafe as she nearly rasped at the Uchiha.

"You will not order me to stay on the sidelines and be a simple voyeur to the vandalize my Village like the _first_ time Uchiha _Sasuke–_ _kun_ _."_

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 **A/N: No, don`t worry guys I have definitely not lost it completely. The reason for this short and extremely stale update is because I split the initial chapter in shorter bits. I will do this trick to other of my stories too since I already have very much written in advance -those of you who read 'Morphine' definitely know what I am referring too.**

 **Reading the overflowing reviews on this story had me realize that it is not fair for you guys to keep on waiting for me to update, but since I am very as in VERY busy working on my Thesis and thus I hardly have time to proof my stories, check the grammar, correct the spelling so on and so forth. So it is easier for me to keep on posting smaller bits. I hope that you guys do not mind it too much.**

 **I apologize for the inconvenience.**

 **Know that I already have more chapters written in advance so yeah, expect more updates to unroll in the next days.**

 **Anyway, without prolonging this with unnecessary rambles, I want you guys to know that I deeply appreciate all the feedback, that I read every single review and I am grateful and pleased to find out that there is interest on this story, with all the tumultuous reactions both positive and negative that it stirred and I am sincerely expressing my gratitude to all of you who shared it with me how you genuinely feel about this story.**

 **You guys have provided savvy, mellifluent and mature feedback to this story, underlinging its pros and cons, while exploring the in-depths that I have tried to bring into the initial storyline. Your support and words are definitely way more rewarding than I deserve, thank you for the unswerving support and the professional feedback, you guys are intelligent and I am lucky to have you as my readers. So, I send you guys million hugs and kisses for your reviews:  
**

 **iWhoReads, magnolia11, lilo, tigerlily18, Guest, Guest, PinkFairyQueen, Guest, Guest, Guest,Guest, Guest, Guest, Guest, skunji, sakuraXxXShisui , Anon ,Guest, toffeemilk , Guest, uchiha. sakura. 23, helloitsmarissa , AnimeRat - I absolutely reveled in your poetic review thank you a lot, Maram, Lila, Riela , Guest, Guest, NarutoTriplS - out of curiosity, are you a fan of the kpop band judging from your name?, maufullbuster21 , Yami no Emi , anime1angel , Guest , 2lazy2login, guest , sasusaku dream , SS means love , ILoveSxS , purflixoxo , Guest , Gigi, MademoiselleRED , A Shadow Away , jen1490. You guys have no idea how merry I am for receiving such feedback. I cannot pay you back in return for your generosity. Thank you!**

 **Oh, so I take it that you guys liked the lemon? Good, because these are my favorite scenes to write! Hehe. You know me well. I don`t fancy action oriented scenes albeit I am aware of their importance to the plot, but if I was to be honest -and I am- then let me tell you guys that I would only write intimate scenes. Ok that sounded weird... but I simply adore exploring all the depths of sensuality in my hot scenes. Hope that you will like the upcoming ones too.**

 **Also... some of you guys have questions about this story but I cannot answer to them now because they contain spoilers. Is this ok? For instance, regarding Sasuke`s knowledge about Tobi`s identity, this will be revealed in the upcoming chapters.**

 **To all the silent readers and followers, thank you guys for reading this story!**

 **Well hope that you didn`t get too bored with this chapter -especially since I know that many people are not that amused by my lush descriptions. Gomen ne. The rest of the chapters will have more action sprinkled. Or so I hope... and some humor.**

 **Thank you a lot, minna-sama!**

 **Till next time...**


	14. His game, a one in a million girl

**::CHAPTER XIV – His game; a one in a million girl::**

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"You will not order me to stay on the sidelines and be a simple voyeur to the destruction of my Village like the _first_ time Uchiha _Sasuke–_ _kun_ _."_

Metaphorically, Sasuke couldn't decide the source of that pabulum filling her angelic demeanor with so much acerbity in an instant turning her into another mask –one of the multiple faces that Sakura fostered deep into her conscious– but it trimmed into his own skull, making him tilt his head to peep to her over his shoulder and literally drank the fire in her luminous crystalline orbs, seething in exacerbation as she held his apparently breviloquent claret saturated hues.

"What?" Putting aside her blustering response, Sasuke pondered about the meaning of her seemingly trenchant way of adding a mocking suffix to his name, giving it a less important resonance in contradiction to how she literarily spilled acrimony when enunciated his family name somehow, silently conveying to him that she was not fretting out by the resonance of his notorious clan`s reputation –in discordance to how the ninja before her nearly wobbled in fear.

"Don`t try to be a fetching heroine because you will not impress anyone and nor will you be able to confront that ninja all by yourself while being chakra depleted."

To amuse and perplex Sasuke further, a quixotic smile slithered along her lips, one that was contemptuous and ritzy as it was delicious and daring, responding with the same coltish zeal with a smidgen of self–gratification that he was underestimating her severely.

"It`s time for you to stop assuming that I am simply a weak defenseless woman who is not capable of holding her ground and stepping with pride and fortitude in a world dominated by men."

Having proclaimed something pertaining to the doctrines of a proud feminist, Sakura swerved from the momentarily astounded Uchiha`s back, encircling his form until she came in front of him and haphazardly she hurdled straight ahead with the agility of a splendid feline landing gracefully with her toes tapping on the tattered vegetation, without making a single ruffle through the blades of the grass or the maze of leaves, the sound of her body perishing through the maze of silence.

"That idiot... _tsk_ ," Sasuke clicked on his tongue in sheer exasperation at Sakura`s brazen attitude ransacking a hand through his ebony locks to temper his flaming annoyance, orbs gyrating hypnotically in the pattern of a constellation blazing their unparalleled power as he focused on his target but not letting Sakura stray away from his field of view; somehow, the mere figment of her being injured during her moment of wading into the solstice of acting like a sacrificial piece and die as a hero, made his chest ache and clench painfully. "she is going to get herself killed."

He let her taste the sweetness of her illusory victory not wanting to shatter that dream for her as he understood that she needed it to moor to something palpable in the moment when nothing around her seemed to make any more sense; his presence caused a turbulence, a rift into her seemingly unsoiled existence and thus he will let her pander to that moment of shining and feeling herself important and having a p _urpose_ in life.

And that was exactly the motivation that Sasuke needed in order not to interfere when Sakura landed right behind those brazen shinobi and, gluing her digits together as she flung her hands in front of her like a gracious dragonfly seemingly designing a shield in front of her in a familiar gesture that ancient warriors versatile and skilled in the arts of _Kung Fu_ fancied, gracefully letting her right foot slide in front of the other one as she kept her left one slowly bent and stable, dropping into clearly fighting stance, ready to strike, her position harboring so much elegance and fluidity that it was beautiful even to someone as formidable as Uchiha Sasuke.

Deciding that he would have plenty of time to amuse himself, Sasuke flickered his form to a high branch of a nearby tree, letting his enemy know that he will not intervene for now. Their perplexed figures as the Iwa shinobi realized it just how blatantly they were being ridiculed was pure comedy relief.

Of course, his moves were too rapid and subtle for anyone to notice the sudden change in the atmosphere around while Sasuke`s lips curled into a content side smirk, one that even Sakura overlooked or mistaken for his regular arrogance.

' _First, we set up the stage and then we invite the actors to play before the gasping public.'_

"Hn. If you so desperately crave to impress me Sakura... then who am I to stop you?" He crisscrossed his arms over his sculpted chest as his pectorals swelled displaying all the ranges of his toned muscles, gaze pinned to the comical scene before his eyes until his keen orbs caught a tiny detail about Sakura that had his stance stiffen abruptly as entertainment has been vanishing from his sight and immediately his star-shaped irises bled and swirled hypnotically, focusing on Sakura only and her wrists.

 _'What the hell?'_ She should _not_ be capable of draining chakra and yet... Sharingan blazing an ominous luminescence as he focused on how Sakura`s smothered chakra –her unique pink imprint– gleaming through her chakra vessels seemed to be seeping in small soupcons with the help of _his_ chakra that was percolating from his Jutsu around her wrists, like a planet attracting its natural satellite, giving her an ounce of strength, but instead of it baffling and scaring him, Sasuke found it incredibly entertaining and interesting.

"So… the Jutsu is having a flaw, huh? Interesting." Prompting his shoulder against the trunk of the tree arms folded upon his chest not even paying it much need about the calloused bark which was grazing the soft skin of his shoulder, with his smirk glinting from behind the sheltering leaves, amused to no end by what he was discovering and at the same time, basking into the insane delight of feeling Sakura`s feelings mixing with the adrenaline venturing along her every pore as a vestige of the blood of a warrior crammed into her veins, Sasuke simply stared as the air around turned into a sober coldness and a lush tension lingering into the air as the quietude before the storm enveloped the entire landscape.

The electrifying indescribable sensation of anticipation right before an upcoming clash was always unique and rather beautiful to Sasuke.

"The core of a shinobi never changes." Sasuke remarked with amusement as something welled inside of him prideful and contemplative while seeing Sakura being so brave, albeit her flimsy fragility shimmered inside her as she was barely kissed by the cusp of womanhood.

Never losing the earmark finesse and elegance in movements, Sakura closed her emerald orbs for a moment and huffed twice seemingly controlling and regulating her breathing and suddenly, the entire atmosphere around her volte-face into something serious, fluid and overwhelming but at the same time pleasant, perfumed and so reminiscent to the caress of a wind which could be so fallacious as it was both a lethal weapon or a pleasant breeze and when she opened them up again, she was already laughing forward with pride and courage, despite the tremendous disadvantage.

Leashing to powerful enemies while being chakra depleted and without any choice weapons to balance the inequity of power at her disposal, was something that only a crazy shinobi would do, but Sakura did it without any smidgen of diffidence in her naturally gutless nature, and thus Sasuke soon realized that her sentiments for the Village were strong and genuine if she was adamantly diving head first into a fruitless clash without hesitance.

' _She is so going to hate me for this when she finds out...'_ Sasuke inwardly chuckled as he witnessed Sakura`s heels revving like she was a fugitive shadow in the wind and, being as easy as the embroidered veil of silk and sateen of a bride, speeding to the first shinobi that was currently with his back on her, waiting in an obvious tension for the enemy to reveal his face.

"Come out come out wherever you ar–" His pathetic chanting that was so shaky and betrayed anxiety and incapability of controlling his own emotions during a fight have been cut short when Sakura dashed to him with her palm thrusting forward in a similar fashion to how he used his Chidori infused palm to strike, but her martial arts were so very different than what he was used to; truly fitting for an ancestry that has been meticulously preserved into a sophisticated exclusive circle of Priests and Priestesses and practiced diligently and with flawless skill.

In all honesty, it was beautiful to watch her fight someone else because as much as she had her finesse intact, Sasuke knew that Sakura was a worthy opponent especially for a woman and her control over her movements, so smooth and impeccable was admirable as she used that infinitesimal portion of chakra to pour it into her blow and the moment her palm connected to the back of that careless shinobi`s nape expertly targeting a lethal point, he could almost envision a spiral of wind oozing from under her fingertips as his Sharingan allowed him to see how Sakura bent and molded the _air_ around her as it was her Chakra Nature and sent him whirlwind like a broken wooden puppet, as he hit the wet canopy ungracefully landing on his jaw and the sinister sound of broken bones reached Sasuke`s ears.

Said imbecile groaned once in pain as it broke from his limp body before he rolled his orbs on the back of his head, defeated, humiliated and unconscious and in all honesty, Sasuke was surprised that Sakura didn't show any mercy to her opponent considering the fact that she was a Priestess and naturally she was neutral to any of the miseries and hatred simmering within the shinobi world, but he understood that she didn't take any more risks –like she did with him.

' _Smart girl, she learns fas.'._ The more he witnessed her unabashedly display of emotions that were kept secluded into the depths of her mind, the more a primal need kindled a strong desire to have her again, taste her and nip on her lustrous skin as she would probably revolt and try to fight him, but that rough manner to sleep with her when witnessing her resolve to dissipate under the multiple layers of obvious lust and need to stir something urgent inside him; overwhelming, sizzling and demonic.

"How much more of a sweet enigma can you be Sakura?" Deciding that her passion was worth following the sophistication of her moves, of her precise and flawless martial arts as she thrust and bent her limbs with so much artistry, skill and mastery was sublime.

It has been such a long time since Sasuke has seen someone being versatile in such ancient martial arts without relying on Ninjutsu at all, only using elements of the nature in their purest form to add magic to her kicks and honestly, he was being delighted by her; by her entire being, both the young woman and the kunoichi.

She was a captivating mirage, beautiful but strong and serious but at the same time never losing grace and innocence. And she was so very fast! How was it possible to combine that level of flexibility and speed was almost surreal especially for a woman whose suave body shouldn't be capable to summon so much power, but there she was laughing into the face of all his preconceptions.

Something very explicit, sinful, forbidden and graphic flickered into Sasuke`s body and the need to have her again, rough, animalistic and unleashed while being inside her hard, merciless and hot, deep and delicious made adrenaline and hormones blind him with a raging lust that was as overwhelming as it set a latent beastly side of him free from its cage.

She was so very conversant and ingenuous with using both her hands and legs to strike, his Sharingan followed –and of course copied– her rapid precise strikes, how her palms were fluttering like they were snakes swiftly lashing to her enemies, sparring every single blow of the ninja`s seemingly sloppy Taijutsu moves and the difference in class, in style and smoothness was implacable and artful.

Sakura moved like she was playing the notes of a Grand Piano instead of controlling the flow of the battle smartly, not granting her enemy the advantage of using their Ninjutsu since she could not unleash her enigmatic techniques to witnessed her versatility with swords and somehow... Sasuke felt disappointed that Sakura was not using her own katana to fight those shinobi for he was positive that she would look more enthralling and captivating while fighting rebelliously dotted in _his_ clothes.

Damn if that panoramic side of her supple long legs adding the final finishing to her swift movements was not a picture to kill, to seduce, to beguile and enthrall then Sasuke didn't know the true meaning of the word _'sensuality'._

Sakura moved like the wind, sharp, elegant as her blows and blocks came in rapid staccato succeeding simultaneously to her attacking as those shinobi simply couldn't comprehend the pattern of her effortless fighting moves as they kept on getting in a succeeded in a striking cadence.

All the distinctive noble Chines elements from their culture mixed together with the symbols of Boar, Snake, Monkey and Rabbit as she completed multiple fluid moves and what was even more mesmerizing about her fighting skills was that she was bare-handed, without any ninja tools at her disposal and armed with only her zeal to protect what she behold dearly and a ferocious ambition that even baffled Sasuke.

If Sakura was capable of nourishing so much love for her Village and its residences, then what about when she found a _man_ that she adored? Will she bestow him the same type of strong feelings of affection?

"What the fuck am I thinking about?" Sasuke shook his head scoffing at his own train of thoughts as he quickly he shook his head to scatter those traitorous feelings away as a fine-grained perfumed breeze flittered through his raven locks, and he hastily focused back on the fighting scene, impressed that Sakura was succeeding in stopping any single hand sign of her enemies that might have vouchsafed them to use their Ninjutsu.

Of course, those shinobi had some noticeable strength at their disposal but they had no brain at all; luckily her that they were to as intelligent and conniving as he was when he was her opponent otherwise, without her Ninjutsu she wouldn't have been able to engage them face to face into a Taijutsu showdown.

"Why are you hesitating you spineless morons, she is just a weak woman! Get her!" Their leader hollered in visible stupefaction and vexation as his men were scampered around a Sakura who was exchanging strong and precise blows engaging them into an artistic display of beautiful Kung Fu martial arts, a technique that had no adversary among them and that made him fret out.

Their leader knew precisely that she was not the strongest opponent out of the two of them, but something else made him hesitate and prevent him from acting impetuously as his comrades fell into a forlorn free with this woman; she wore a disheveled oversized article of clothing with an intriguing symbol sewed on its back and, albeit he was not precise whether it truly belonged to her or was just a chivalrous gesture to preserve her modesty, he recognized the fearsome symbol out of millions.

Had it been someone else in his place, then Sasuke would have already been rolling on the ground laughing hysterically at what was transpiring before his eyes, but he had more dignity and pride so he only tittered darkly realizing that everyone was completely oblivious about what was happening.

The abominable sight of a red and white flag ebbed on the dark fabric stood out proud, arrogant a defying being the symbol of power, of notoriety and unknown powers.

That was what Uchiha name was capable of doing to an enemy as he goes more cautious around this woman.

But he knew from the whispered rumors that Uchihas had striking peculiar traits and this exotic beauty with angelic feats ebbed on her serious and determined warrior feats was in complete antithesis to what she was. Looks can be deceiving, though...

He flickered his cocoa brown orbs to his left side as his companions spurt forward roaring on their heels as they drew their kunai's from the ninja pouches wrapped in bandages around their thighs, curious about what would she do as the woman didn't exude much versatility in the arts of ninjutsu or ninjutsu and that was also puzzling; an Uchiha was gifted and skilled in all the three ninja arts, but not this woman. _Interesting._

Two of the ninjas with peculiar shaped honed kunai drew from their ninja pouch leaped to her from opposite direction and a quick peep on both her sides had Sakura already anticipate their movements as she blocked them with her hands thrust forward under their jaw, then she crisscrossed them in a circular motion, while serving on her heel revving to gain speed and let her heels upshot from the ground smoothly, effortlessly like a white swan into a beautiful prim-ballerina and performed a circular kick with both her feet digging into their chests and sending them ricocheting on their backs as she landed swiftly with an impeccable fluidity and balance, quickly collecting their dropped kunai from the ground swirling them into her skillful lean fingers and adjusting them into a very interesting grip to suit her fashion of fighting.

"You," The Leader seethed through his gnashing teeth as he casually stepped beside his fallen comrades as they were having a shaking hand warped around their midsection trying to stand up and focus between droplets of mood and grass dirtying their forms and clothes how he spat at a slightly surprised Sakura. "are you from the _Uchiha_ clan?"

Sakura didn't fathom his purpose of asking her such a derisive question at first since they already recognized Sasuke who decided to be a bystander and was probably enjoying himself as seeing her fight alone, but a quick glance to the hem of Sasuke`s T-Shirt that brushed past her thighs was enough to provide a plausible explanation for his confusion and she tilt her head to the side to hit the flurry feeling in her chest when he involuntarily made that association with _him_ and provided a fallacious answer that any shinobi would, considering how they had to make perfect use of the deception and the element of surprise.

"Will it make your sound defeat less humiliating and revolting if I did?" Didn't anyone know that the Uchiha clan was extinct except for one single survivor?

' _then why have they…'_

Sasuke was befuddled at her sudden switch of attitude because for one moment... Sakura seemed to have lost that pristine figure with rutilant cheeks of a child receiving candies for Christmas and smelling a vanilla and cinnamon bread loaf made by his grandma and her sly smile was as fallacious as it was sensual, seductive and almost... dark. _She looks different in a way that I cannot explain._

"You are forcing your luck with us you conniving bitch!" The man`s fists trembled in pure choler as he saw this fine-grained woman with traits of innocence ebbed all around her person not actually believing his eyes that the raven haired mysterious man was granting _a woman_ the privilege to fight. Was he being derisive or just underestimated their skills?

Still... he narrowed his gaze on the stoic male who was being just a silent voyeur somewhere close to them almost like being a referee or an alley to intervene when things will get out of hand and he could not help when a sudden figment trimmed against his brain.

What was that strange sensation of dizziness suddenly brimming through his mind and why was that man looking so… familiar to him? _What the heck?!_

Unlike this woman with questionable ancestry, _that_ half naked man with sculpted lithe physique and obvious shinobi training had something distinctive and very unique about him, something that has travelled all around the shinobi world, being latched to all the whispering lips in both fear and grudge; those black sapphire **eyes** shining of a smoldering intensity that could melt any smidgen of defiance in a heartbeat without even batting an eyelash.

His handsome face and phlegmatic attitude betrayed absolutely nothing, he was the perfect embodiment of a Roman sculpture statue, representative for the beauty and strength of a sturdy emperor but it gave nothing of what was churning inside his mind away, and that overflowing diffidence had its core into an enigmatic power that he obviously kept concealed for now, so as he allowed himself to be so casual and discompassionate, almost _amused._

Then everything fell into place as she pieces of the puzzle whirled together into a spiral and his orbs went wide in consternation; and when his gaze landed back on the man`s seemingly focused figure seeing _those_ demonic irises glowing in the unmistakable shades of a bleeding horizon and realizing that the woman was just a bait, a distraction as she obviously wore _his_ clothes with an Uchiha crest on it –that a poser will never dare to counterfeit if not pertaining to the family– he nearly stammered.

' _Didn't this just happen moments ago? Is this a deja-vu?'_ Confusion started to take roots into the Iwa shinobi`s minds as their leader was caught into an obvious internal battle as he blinked slowly several times then shaking his head almost like the figments in his mind couldn't make much sense.

"Y-You!" He nodded to Sasuke whose orbs were latched to Sakura as her magnetic presence was capturing his attention and he simply could not diverge his eyes from her person. "You are from the Uchiha clan!"

Sakura, along with the falling Iwa shinobi`s orbs traveled between Sasuke and the leader who had a furious expression tinge with a bit of apprehension as he darted his orbs to Sasuke who in return did only flickered his orbs to him, a hollow expression dropping his seemingly impassive figure. "You are _that_ Uchiha Sasuke! The famous criminal!"

Here is when he nearly scoffed at the man for disrupting the beautiful flow of action with his genius rant and his sarcasm could not get any further.

Sakura on the other hand couldn't comprehend a single thing about whatever was happening around. It was almost like they suddenly forgot that they have just realized it for starters that Sasuke was from the Uchiha clan… almost like the time frames didn't match.

' _Sasuke, what is going on?'_ Whatever was affecting those enemies was clearly not influencing _her_ but other than that, Sakura was just at loss of words and baffled, but she decided to trust Sasuke and thus she did not turn around to look at his lissome form, never removing her eyes from the enemy, not saying a word about this.

It was almost like they never had that moment of psychological confrontation of exchanging names and claiming that they knew about Sasuke and his group. Sadly she realized that Sasuke was indeed infamous for his malapropism if basically any single rogue shinobi knew about him.

' _But they don't know him like_ _I_ _do, no one knows how gentle and caring he could be…'_ Like the perfect secret lover.

"What gave me away?" Sasuke`s velvety baritone voice brimmed through everyone's spine as it sounded velvety rich but implacable, unscrewing with a bit of boredom in it, but Sakura knew better that he was rather displeased with being recognized.

"My clothes on _her_?" And he actually curled his lips into a side mocking smirk cocking his head to Sakura as she seemed to be melting under his stare into the ground.

"Damn it!" The leader of the group of attacking shinobi was quick to realize that Sasuke Uchiha was his real adversary and not the woman, albeit she too had her fair share of skills.

" _Minna_ listen to me," He snarled at his falling comrades which barely stood on their feet without their knees to buckle as he ordered. "we have to take Uchiha down first if we want to crush the Leaf!"

Sasuke could simply not stifle a short chuckle when he heard that feeble amusing ambition. They could not even defeat a chakra-depleted Sakura and there they were aiming to take on _him_? Were they stuck in the head?

 _Duh, obviously! They must have_ _gone_ _bananas to even_ _consider_ _such a thing._

"Neither of you is going to lay a finger on the Leaf because you must get through _me_ first!" Shockingly, it was Sakura the owner of that dogged feminine voice as all the orbs present landed back on her and Sasuke`s smirk only widened as it slain across his lips.

He watched as her strong-willed inner personality, one of the two masks that she swept with the artistry of an actress, had her dash to her enemies as they had no reaction or weapons to fight her.

Whatever Sasuke was scheming and planning was clearly not hindering her movements and thus he entrusted her with this fight for a reason that she couldn't fathom, but she has learned it rather quickly that Uchiha Sasuke was someone who did nothing on a mere caprice, nothing! He was always calculating his steps and never mistaking, he never acted excessively or in vain.

To Sasuke, it was simply stupendous how Sakura was able to effortlessly perform all those rapid successions of circular movements in simply sublime rotations, using both her legs and arms to block all the kicks and deflect from all those amateurish looking less grateful blogs and attacks of her opponents.

His Sharingan allowed him to fully satiate from that delicious display of her pure battle skills as following her moves in slow motion with much flaring effect; her lustrous hair was whirling around her in ethereal suave strokes as it was so long and sateen flimsy meandering around her lissome form and she looked like a warrior Princess defending her kingdom.

He clearly pictured her among the red blazing dragons with ruby scales and eyes of jade and expensive bright red and royal golden Chinese embroideries and silken kimonos and all that was sadly missing was her luscious fine sword to add to that aura of beautiful display of a woman`s strength without losing any single smidgen of elegance, beauty, and charm.

The eternal fascination for discovering the multiple faces of such an unpredictable woman, seducing him with implacable moves as her hands and legs were seemingly made of air, palms hitting her opponents as she handled her kunais masterfully, the weapons fluttering around her in maddening hypnotizing moves that even his Sharingan felt it challenging to copy, predict and keep up with.

Watching her so unleashed, strong and independent was like a fresh rush of adrenaline sending him into a coltish frenzy of both hunger to join the fight or challenge her after she was done humiliating those cretins and she was not even granted access to her chakra... what more could she possibly do to amuse him?

What if... he allowed her to use some _more_ of his chakra as it would unlock her own as well? "I wonder if..."

Focusing intently on the intimate connection between the Jutsu as those filigree intricate Kanji designed on her skin tinged with a warm but intense purple glow as Sakura was not aware of what was happening focusing on her task at hand, Sasuke tried to envision his chakra fusing with the one that was suppressed into her veins and allowing her faster and stronger hits, realizing that the only way for it to work was to _genuinely_ desire something so strongly, and he did. "Now let me see how splendid you are, _my_ little Priestess. Amuse me further."

" _Earth style: mood bullets_!" Their leader waved a succession of rapid hand signs understanding that this woman`s Taijutsu was high-caliber and to something that they could top so he figured that his only chance was to surprise her with his ninjutsu as he realized it that the kunoichi was hardly infusing any chakra in her attacks and that particular detail disconcerted him.

"Wha–?" Sakura hoped that they would attack her from close distance so as she will have the advantage of her Taijutsu but when a shadow spanned around her from the rain of bullets made from solid rock and mood she panicked because she had no techniques available to dispel them if she couldn't use her chakra–

-she felt it! The familiar spike of Sasuke`s chakra infused into her system, so magnificent, delicious and potent, so distant and peculiar like she could never mistake it for anyone else`s own aura pervading through their connection as the purple radiance around her wrists enhanced in the glow.

"What the fuck is _that_?" Said caster of the technique had his hands fisted before his chest narrowing his orbs to slits as he tried to depict the core of the abnormal bracelets made of purple energy around Sakura`s wrists, a thing that he overlooked until now.

Leaning forward on her right leg quickly being her knee almost crouching down like she wanted to bow in front of him, Sakura shot her hands up with her palms facing the shower of earth style bullets and, focusing her energy and summoning her chakra as her fine-grained control was present and perfect, she didn't even have time to marvel at the easiness and nonchalance molding someone else`s chakra like it was her own; so natural and fit.

It was not just _anyone`s_ chakra, but _his_ chakra, Sakura`s inner self jubilated in pure frenzy at the visceral, essential and very personal connection between them. A technique whose purpose was to bind her into imprisonment turned into something so intimate as Sakura truly felt a warm sensation traverse her entire body at the concept of having a _bond_ with Sasuke, one that had so much in-depth and poetry behind it.

"What?! No way man, how did she _do_ that?!"

She heard the enraged shinobi simmer and bristle from behind his technique as the bullets hit the nearby trunks of the trees making the wood explode and shatter diagonally seemingly strike by lightning and drilled into the branches of the tree above, but never touching her.

Because somehow, Sakura summoned an invisible windshield around her from deflecting and eluding every single one of them as her heels slid backwards having difficulties in successfully blocking such a strong technique, but at the same time Sasuke`s chakra, as short as it was since Uchiha was not a nitwit to risk and give her large amounts so as to escape him or attack him, it was sufficient to help her overcome that pinch.

"Hm?" Sasuke himself was delighted and surprised to witness such a technique and not because it was something spectacular but because of something else that the cheap fools did not depict because their inquisitive and analytical shinobi skills were just that mediocre.

"She didn`t use any _hand signs_ for that weird Jutsu." Albeit she definitely suffused it with chakra and that was something that Sasuke felt sound and clear resonating through their spiritual connection, along with her zeal to deflect it and a silent calling and a plea to him to help her.

' _Oh,_ _Kami she was begging for_ _his_ _help!'_

 _No_ , not help but more like _assistance_ and that nearly made Sasuke chortle at her arrogance. She considered them  equals and overlooked the difference in power between them simply because Sasuke allowed her a moment to prove her stellar skills and be superb, when in reality his purpose was to lift up her mood and prove it to her that she was still valuable as a shinobi, despite her losing the traits of a Priestess; which was so futile and sapless in his opinion.

A side smirk slid across his lips as he realized it that Sakura had so many similar traits to him without even realizing it and that made the game even more captivating and entertaining. He must be really bored if he indulged into something so trivial...

So if that was not a normal Jutsu that required a pattern of hand signs, then... _Could it be a Doujutsu?_ Now _that_ made Sasuke curious and ruffled.

He knew that her past was shrouded in obscurity but could it be that she was pertaining to a certain clan and possessed a bloodline limit which allowed her to unleash such techniques?

If so... then why were her memories locked away and she was not allowed to remember her ancestry?

Simply because they did not want her to have any distractions from her purpose as a Priestess? To protect her from knowing about her identity and history? Somehow, Sasuke found it ironic and satiric how Sakura`s faith having its core into self-sacrifice was reminiscent to his brother`s sacrifice and both of them assumed and accepted their role with pride and devotion –a power that Sasuke did not possess.

"How stupid." Hystory and family was giving one his value and defined his personality, so the whole point in severing her from her roots and family was only to crush her personality in for this, a simmering hatred made Sasuke bridle in rage at her so called _'mentors'._

' _More like captors…'_ He remarked sarcastically as they acted more like her captors and masters than him, who openly claimed it that she was his prisoner but unlike them, he was not trying to lie to her.

A mentor and a teacher were supposed to help one find his way and define his personality and not to turn her into a marionette without a shadow.

He could not forgive those people for what they did to Sakura albeit he was aware of the fact that this was not his problem and thus he had no reason to feel affronted but he did.

He returned his gaze back on a fighting Sakura, deciding that she was quickly losing the sparred iota of energy and her uneven puffs and gasps became irregular as her moves decreased in speed slowly but surely.

Of course, it was almost unnoticeable how she was slowly getting slower and less sharp, but his Sharingan caught every single detail and he was still marveled.

The precision, her amazing flexibility, that astonishing balance of a real ballerina as she was casually supporting herself on one leg as the other was suspended in a way that Sasuke might have deemed as humanly impossible landing a descending leg thrust against one of her opponents` skulls, even before he had the chance to toss a net of kunai in her way, catching him with his guard conveniently dropped.

Sakura looked like a suave dragonfly in its unperturbed flight, a gracious cherry blossom petal carried by the wind as human`s narrowed vision couldn't cup her jolly fluttering entirely, she moved as the wind itself turning into perfume and spreading around as her opponents had absolute zero ideas of how should they approach such a formidable fine enemy.

"You should have stayed away from off _my_ Village!" Her musical warrior voice betrayed determination and strength but was oh– so delicious, so musical and beautiful and not to mention sensual. Sasuke simply couldn't peel his gleaming orbs off this woman; she entombed the captivation of a beautiful mirage.

He was afraid that if he tried to graze her skin with his fingertips, she would dissipate like smoke under his touch, melting like dew drops into the palm of his hand.

She was the polarized mirror of the young woman who gave herself to him completely earlier. That woman was still ravishing in her innocence as she waded and reveled into the first taste of being desired by a man, being _with_ a man, obsequious but not entirely submitted or tamed, but still obedient and beautiful granting him full access to her body, to touch her gingerly and passionately.

Something dark stirred inside him to unravel this warrior side of Sakura more often as something else seemed to be overcoming her and that was something that his Sharingan could not submerge and dent into.

It had to do with those locked lost memories about her missing past and that perplexed the Uchiha more, along with the oath to unravel her every enigma.

He had clearly belittled her, underestimating her full capabilities but soon enough something has been confirmed.

Her spirit was stronger than her body and her fire burning determination kindled that passion for fighting for what she believed in without caring about her safety and that made Sasuke`s respect for her mount.

Just like her motives for offering her purity to _him –_ from all the people _–_ without losing her earmark ineffable and grace, in fact, now that he depicted the traits of a young lady trapped into the cusp of womanhood as finesse made her more mature and self-confident, she was even more enthralling now.

Something inside Sasuke`s chest flittered as a frisky sensation sizzled inside his chest when he watched her so confident, so intense about her fight, so serious, mysterious and yet angelic, distant and stupendous and that unnamed feeling felt so alien and yet so pleasant touching him gingerly making him nearly revel into the intensity of it as it mirrored the one in his Sharingan spinning orbs.

One particular move nearly had Sasuke wink twice in surprise to make sure that his Sharingan was not deceiving him; he only witnessed something similar to his older brother Itachi during his harsh years of training.

Sakura has just tossed a kunai at one of her opponents who approached her blindly from her left side trying to catch her unguarded in mid-air while she was still swirling like a hurricane with her hair draping her in a pink bride`s veil almost like she would turn into a cherry blossom tree or sprinkle into million petals hitting him straight in the forehead and that blow was nearly impossible for someone who did not possess a formidable vision or a doujutsu to enhance the precision of her aim and target.

Panting while her irregular breaths sent her adrenaline rush into overdrive and whipping her sweaty forehead with the back of her palm, fine-combing a hand through her virgin pink locks to brush them off behind her ear as they obstructed her view, Sakura looked around her carefully with a contemplative stare as the shinobi hastened to regroup and suddenly, they stood in line with their fingers latched into the same hand sign probably plotting the last Earth attack.

"You won`t escape us now bitch, I`ve got you cornered!" It was their leader the one to arrogantly grin at her as the trembles of the ground alerted Sakura about an upcoming decisive strong attack.

"Oh no... I cannot drain chakra anymore." Sakura noticed in horror as she tried to infuse some more of Sasuke`s chakra into the pattern of her own technique in vain because she has been left drained and withering like a flower without its essences.

She knew that it was only so much that Sasuke allowed her to use and actually she whipped her head over her shoulder to look in his general direction and froze in shock as she took in his expression; demonic, devoid of any emotion and not in the bit fazed by the event unfolding, casual and apparently relaxed and... smirking at her.

 _What was so amusing to him?_

"Sasuke...?" He saw her murmur his name and his only regret was that he was not able to hear it clearly as she added that iota of suppressed _affection_ and _feeling_ into how she unrolled it out of her glossy mouth, inquisitive about his reason for sliding his hands into his pockets and, in an instant before her coltish eyes were capable to catch him, Sasuke vanished from her sight of view and before she blinked, he flickered his lissome form materializing right before her eyes a little bit _too_ close to her, sauntering casually into her personal bubble and still smirking down at her; only acknowledging her.

"Wha– wait, what are you _–_?"

"—relax, _Sakura_." She reveled into the delicious sensuality of the quiver that flittered along her spine at the way he belted her name in a rich tenor resonance knowing exactly how to anticipate her desires, following her every reaction and breathing in every single fine detail about her demeanor with those red eyes of his.

She knew they were deadly weapons, lethal tools to destruction but at the same time, they are the vestige of Uchiha clan`s manifestation of smothered emotions bottled up in the vault of their hearts as they resurface as their earmark Doujutsu, making them rather beautiful and poetic in Sakura`s opinion.

A Priestess` deep insight and intuition will always see underneath it all and depict the beauty and the depths of every darkness, unraveling the grace in it because after all, the rarest most beautiful pearls resided encased into the deepest oceans and not just anyone could reach to them. "Sasuke? Oh no, the enemy–"

Swiveling on her heels as she mentally slapped herself for getting into a perfect trace around Sasuke as his mere presence beside her veiled her into a mantle of protection and safety as she turned to face her enemy, only... they all stood frozen and pinned into their place while their orbs were lackadaisically half lidded and drooling, unmoving and mumbling incoherent sentences seemingly trapped in a dream.

Confusion took over her senses as Sakura assessed those males waving her hands in front of them, comically to capture their attention with all those cute gestures resembling a cartoon heroine.

A wide range of comical facial expressions from pouts to frowns creased her beautiful face, all making Sasuke nearly snort audibly at how she immediately returned to her normal clumsy cuteness and innocence.

She was truly an allegory of spring`s abundance of fresh warm breezes and perfumed valleys filled with exuberant flowers and all those multiple faces that she displayed in her complex tenue thrived into a splendid and fascinating young woman.

"W–What is this Sasuke?" She asked glancing in the Uchiha`s direction as he was casually leaning against the trunk of the tree, smirking down at her in contemptuous satisfaction making her even more perplexed. "What is happening? Was that an illusion? Are we under a genjutsu? Oh, Kami we have to break through it!"

She was pretty smart for someone so frail and insecure about her own skills including her tortuous past, Sasuke decided but then again this kunoichi Priestess was astute and scheming and definitely intuitive when it came to ninja arts. "In a way yeah, this is indeed a Genjutsu."

"What is that supposed to mean?" She puckered her lips pouting at him while she kept on darting her orbs everywhere around like anticipating an upcoming blow, probably still not getting the gist of what was going on around her. "And why are _you_ so relaxed? The enemy could be close and attack us while we are not on guar–"

" _–_ the enemy and you," He interjected leaping casually until he was in front of her, noticing that he had his nin pants on –thanks Kami– meaning that he had enough time to idle and get dressed while she was fighting alone, hands in his pockets and keeping a preposterous expression coating his visage. "are under a genjutsu, but not _me_."

The look she gave him was enough to make him titter low and smug because she resembled one of that dumbfounded expression that Naruto had when they were discussing strategies, political affairs or negotiation.

"So… you have already broken from that illusion and did not warned me beforehand, knowing it all too well that I cannot break free from it without the help of my chakra or someone to infuse his own chakra into my body and wake up from it?"

She nearly scolded him and that audacious retort nearly had him frown, undeciding that she was already very amusing fretting out while submerging into her ungainliness, he decided to enlighten her.

With a single glimmer lowering his eyelids just enough to conceal those beautiful black pearl orbs from hers, he revealed another familiar shade of his irises to her this time, Sakura finding her breath hitching down her throat when the smirk slithering across his lips mirrored the sturdy arrogance netted with the saturated claret shade of his blood irises swiveling in torpid circles around his pupils, flouting her for not noticing the first time –but then again, he also tricked his enemy with it.

"Aa. I have not warned you prior to hurdling to those idiots because I knew that you won`t be harmed. They were already entrapped into _my_ genjutsu from the very beginning."

And that was the simple explanation to why the enemy seemed to have never recognized Sasuke from the moment when he leaped into the tree and vanished from their sight, having enough time to casually return to the lake, get half dressed, return to witness Sakura`s splendid fighting skills, all the while maintaining his Genjutsu intact without any of them to notice.

Sasuke shrugged casually while she was left catching flies like it was all the outgrowth of his inner masquerade projected on the outside, and the others were just a bunch of pawns and mindless puppets. "You merely fought an unnecessary battle."

"T–Then why have you let me oppose them in vain if everything was already under your control?" Surprisingly she did not agonized at his choice of playing them all like they were part of an orchestra and he was their diligent conductor and the master of all the harmonies, not considering their feelings –or pride– in the bit and that hungry athirst to dominate and manipulate the flow of events really vexed Sakura.

"Did you have _fun_ watching me engage into an illusory battle, while my feelings to protect what I hold dearly were _real_? Is this your awry way to humiliate me and laugh at me for feeling _commitment_ for something while you are incapable of something so profound?"

She finished with a sizzling fluttering under the curve of her eyelashes as moisture nearly seeped from her lustrous orbs, polishing all the faces of the rough emerald diamond in her eyes.

Those elaborated insults about the obscurity in his narrow mind and limited vision about the surrounding world and ineptitude to connect to people`s hearts and care for them made the Uchiha`s smirk fade away and a slight scowl to create his handsome face.

Putting one foot in front of the other swiftly without making any ripple in the air molding into the shadows shattered by the million leaves of the trees, he traipsed towards her rasping.

"Yeah, I had much fun seeing you care so much for something that does not reciprocate your supposed feeble feelings enough to come to your rescue or even inquire about your identity or even your given name or family _name... Sakura._ "

If her desires swayed into the direction of attacking each other psychologically by pointing to their flaws in life and feelings, then Sasuke too had his own weapons of choice at his disposal.

Sakura took a whooping step backwards when Sasuke stopped right in front of her entering her personal bubble like he owned that space too –owning her– tracing the tip of her tongue over her sateen lips and nearly stammered when his cruel words registered into her mind, but she refused to fall prey for his captivating smart illusion like his enemies.

"I don`t c–care... my purpose is not to question but to offer my help to the ones in need, in addition to p–protecting something valuable tremendous importance. Do not attempt to make me feel remorseful and guilty for something that has never crossed my mind so far."

"And this only proves that you are indeed very _stupid,_ precisely because you are blindly following orders and this spineless attitude is what angers me the most at you Sakura."

Wrapping a muscular hand around her flute waist before she evaded him, Sasuke brought her flush into his bare chest making her gasp softly locking gaze with his intense one and drowning into his hard words.

"This servile humble little fairy Priestess who is not even interested in learning about her origins while keeping her amazon side well hidden deep inside her mind and only acts like an innocent frail lamb pleasing the others. What is wrong with you?"

His voice was huskier and going into a grave crescendo nearly losing his composure but this woman genuinely perplexed him with her dubious attitude.

Tears welled under the curve of her eyelids when his words ricocheted back and forth into her chest, pounding against her heart and stirring something inside her that brimmed into her brain and enkindle a torch that she did not know it existed, shaken by the resonance of Sasuke`s implication.

"I–I... am not a–" A soft breeze fluttered through the lavish leaves of the trees inspiriting the vegetation around, electrically charged, cool and symbolic ruffling their hair and clothes while whispers molded into the lush quietude around them.

"–a _foreigner_?" There has been a fleeting glint of a trenchant smirk traversing his lips but her befogged vision prevented Sakura from seeing clear while Sasuke`s resolute words tapped against her mind and the tension in her chest caged her like needles pinning the wings of a butterfly.

"A stranger… a foreigner with no roots or even a family name? Yeah that is what you are for this Village. So how can you still harbor _feelings_ and foster caring for it when no one is actually blood-related to you or affiliated to you in any way?"

"Because of the **Will of the Fire**... his words," Her grim orbs still preserved a flickering luminescence deep inside of them surprising Sasuke as he stared deeply into those glimmering eyes and the more tears she tried to smother, the more his chest ached with a dull unexplainable pain.

"The honorable Third Hokage taught us all that as long as there is a strong Will to protect this Village and think of it as something precious and dear to us, then our feelings are all connected and thus this makes us all _related._ "

Seeing as his orbs narrowed ever so softly in pure confusion probably mocking her for her convictions, Sakura went on with the same feverous faith and commitment as she took a bold step forward so as her full chest that was rounded and firm under his pampering cotton shirt brushed over his barren sculpted one. "There are more than just blood bonds connecting our hearts as one... I am pretty positive that you now perfectly clear what I am talking about..."

"...seeing how close you are to Naruto–kun and your other comrades, aren`t you? Even if you try to play the almighty King of loneliness and darkness, you cannot fully estrange yourself from the others, "because if there is at least one single person who still thinks about you and waits for you to return, wherever that person might be then you still have a _home_ to return to and thus you are never lonely for real. Loneliness means complete abandonment," she eschews her gaze from inscrutable one as something about those sapphire orbs seemed to swallow the light from her own viridian ones, muttering softly barely audible.

"Loneliness and succumbing to darkness can only be accomplished when not a single soul spares a single memory of you or thinks about you anymore. But this is not the case because of as much as you try to rebuff, you still _do_ behold your comrades dearly... and the memories of your family."

The tension and silence between them turned magnetizing and sizzling and suddenly Sakura felt like suffocating. She didn't dare a peep at the Uchiha`s face but his entire body language and his general aura betrayed suppressed fury.

She went on boldly as her emerald orbs waded into burning tears that contained all those amassed emotions that begged to be set free as butterflies carrying missives to the sky _–to him._

"You don`t really want to be alone. Is this why you are so afraid of connectedness?" It was an automatic gesture to brush her fingertips along his cheek and cup his jaw and shockingly he was too stupefied in trying to disavow her words to shriek away from her tender and warm touch. "Because they show the truth about your _inner_ feelings?"

That triggered something coltish inside Sasuke churning deeply into his chest and shaking the solid foundation of his heart up to the quintessence and thus he placed his palm over her small elegant one and, wrapping his long digits around her own he tore her hand away from him twisting her wrist in a swift motion which allowed her no time to respond and tucked her to him until their chests collided making her heart skip a beat and oxygen got stuck midway her lungs in surprise when he pulled her up to meet his intense gaze.

"Don`t play with me and don`t you even try to bewitch me with your well-chosen deceptive words Sakura, for I am not an idiot or a sentimental fool. I will not fall prey to any of your little charms... _ex_ Priestess."

"What? I am not the one trying to charm you it is the other way around. _You_ are the one trying to twist _my_ mind by putting words into my mouth that are not reflecting what am I really thinking about. And stop mocking my role as the messenger of Heavens. Is this so much fun to an atheist like you?"

The contemptuous smirk that she got from Sasuke was enough to trigger a zealous fury inside her that Sakura was not aware that she was capable of feeling but then again, she has been living in solitary for all her life and Sasuke was a turbulent storm in the middle of the sea submerging her into his own abysses and she couldn't help but wish for a lifesaver or an anchor to moor her to the shore, but the Uchiha was both the darkness of the bottom of the sea and the shimmering light of the lighthouse –a dainty fire in the night sky during a storm.

"Yeah, you are making me laugh with how incredibly naive you are Sakura even though you are just a humorless fool. One that is having her own fair share of _allurement_ ,"

He enunciated daily and sensually while letting those shimmering pearl orbs of his skim up and down her body mentally smacking his head against the trunk of the thickest tree at how imbecile he was to get athirst for the swells and outgrowth of her curves molding over _his_ slightly damp T-Shirt stuck to her form. "but still incredibly foolish."

"You are completely insane." Sakura blabbered between her pouts comically shaking her head while droplets of cold water sparkled around her with much effect as the rays of the moon spilled through the lush leaves making it look like there were a million fireflies swarming in spirals around her diaphanous form, emphasizing the look of a forest`s fairy; truly a Priestess of the succulent tea leaves.

"Naturally," Deciding that he was indeed completely lunatic, Sasuke decided to dance with the limbs of that newfound preposterous mental state since the cards were already on the table so that was the reason why he had a fleeting transfiguration of attitude becoming more playful than lackadaisical, leaning forward to press his lips against shell of her ear making electric jolts traverse the column of her spine, breathing.

"because how would I not be crazy if all that I am picturing in my mind is how _captivating_ you look into _my_ clothes, dripping _wet_ and so helplessly lost on the path of life, hm? _Sakura..._ "

Sasuke couldn`t remember the time when he has ever been coquettish because even though his looks alone propelled him into the category of a lady-killer, he was hardly a Don Juan, but somehow such kittenish missives flew smoothly from his mouth in the presence of Sakura.

"your name has a _delicious_ resonance to it, you know?" And the way he basically murmured her name like a lulling harp and violin melody made Sakura`s knees wobble and she shivered while she stood frozen listening to the spell of his voice and his warm breath fanning behind the lobe of her ear, while his regal nose was nuzzling into her damp coral hair.

" _Sakura_." In less than a heartbeat, his sateen lips captured her own with unhinged passion and pleasure before she had the chance to whisper his name in a light soprano run, stealing her breaths away, capturing and enthralling her mind and everything that she was capable to perceive in that moment was Sasuke`s overwhelming sensual presence; he was too good overflowing through her system.

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His steps were heavy as his mind reeled in bottled up fury and guilt as he made his way down to the already familiar dim lighted route, back to the cage of an angel and ignoring the fugitive stare of Jūgo who would never judge him for the transgression and the other Leaf shinobi`s reproachful, bitter and hateful spats and insults thrown his way, he only had one particular cell in his field of view and that was everything that occupied his mind and stole his nights as slumber hasn't found its way back to him anymore.

And there she was gossamer and broken as his heart shattered like fragments of a broken mirror slowly seeping from its frame; a diaphanous angel curled into a ball with crushed wings but never losing its gossamer ineffable and purity like a Shrine to salvation, to his own redemption.

Naruto felt the lump in his throat choke him painfully as he has suddenly been reduced to a clumsy innocent and scared child from the past, testing the waters with the tip of his toe and running to a hazardous horizon; her grace, her bravery, her delicacy was still stunning him.

She was an oxymoron, an enigma in that decadent world stained with blood and ambition and yet, a Hyuga preserved the ambiguous fascination, an engine, a mystique creatures with orbs pristine like pearls and shining like the moon above, ethereal but fallacious; beautiful beyond words, indescribable and magnetizing as his fingertips burned against the metallic bars of the cage that imprisoned her form but never her spirit.

An indescribable emotion as ancient as the time as it was written from the beginning of humankind and passed to them by Gods along with the first kindled flames, has coursed through his entire being while his teeth gnashed in pure vexation upon seeing her pellucid form so broken, so obsequious, vanquished and fine-grained and he swore that his chapped voice never felt so broken, so empty, so _desperate_ and pleading when he whispered softly, delicately to her.

"Hinata... Hinata- _chan_..." Naruto literarily felt her pain in pure anguish when a sharp pang made his pulse accelerate thumping in maddening cadences and he squeezed his orbs shut tight resisting the need to punch the bars down and act like a manic. "...just–"

The metallic clang of keys sliding into the lock had Hinata turn her head over her shoulder weakly to gaze at her late night visitor while she was clearly trapped into a torturous slumber trying to regain whatever energy she could muster in order to make her plan work, but her heart stammered upon seeing _his_ lissome coltish presence saunter to her, swift paddlings pelting against the pavement as he approached her.

She quickly pulled herself into a sitting position sauntering with her back tapping the rough walls of her ceiling, legs folded under her in a seemingly apprehensive defensive stance, but what made her oxygen stop midway her lungs and a frisky sensation simmering though her chest and the pit of her belly were his eyes.

Those crystalline orbs as warm as the sun rays bathing into the ocean and embracing the azurite sky made Hinata completely wade into his stare and submit to the paradisiac world that he conjured and a soothing feeling brimmed along her spine electrifying and powerful.

His stare comprised everything from guilt, remorse, pity, pain upon seeing her like that, regret, apology and somehow sympathy for her and she felt briefly stuck by how many emotions creased his boyish figure when he _smiled_ a genuine energetic smile to her, and her pulse hastened as she became alerted of her heart thumping into her eardrums.

Hinata honestly didn't envision his return to her cell voluntarily as his words might just have been a bittersweet fallacious way to torture her mentally and break her spirit completely, but Naruto Uzumaki seemed genuinely soothed by the fact that she was still _alive._

When Naruto saw Hinata so encased in that miserable cell like a Phoenix Fire with broken wings trapped in a silver cage with her spirit fluttering without a heart and its own fire to enkindle all that beautiful freedom and passion, he swore that something tore his own heart in half.

What were they doing here? What was the purpose of imprisoning such fine-grained creatures? He submerged into the enthralling spell of her pearl eyes and wished nothing more than to kiss those smothered tears away from her ivory rose cheeks and foster her all through the night into an intimate embrace and away from that depressing place that was meant to break the spirits.

Her moony sateen orbs were so beautiful, they encompassed all the grace of an enthralling exquisite nymph of the forests and Naruto realized just how she belonged to the forest as her grace was a sonata dedicated to the romantic shimmering nights under the radiance of the full moon, and he would happily lead her to those paths, holding her hand instead of having to twist the key into the lock of her cell.

It was the worst type of torture that Naruto has ever experienced; to see this woman so broken, so frail and shattered and vanquished by the prospect of losing everything, starting with her own soul, but he _will_ return it soon enough.

He vowed to her and to himself that he will set her free and Sasuke will have nothing to argue about because he too knew of such explicit feelings, even though he was desperately trying to smother them and eschew front them.

"N-Naruto…?" Oh– how beautiful was to delight into the sound of her light soprano voice and suddenly Naruto found himself embraced by those lips that whispered his name between dried tears and void of any spirit or motivation to live, but at the same time, she sounded so soothed and genuinely curious about his presence in her cell.

Of course, she was probably considering his previous words as simple bravados in his attempt to ridicule her, but she didn't know him and his ninja way yet; a creed that has led his steps through life and the impulse that sent him here tonight, back to _her._

' _No, it is more than my Nindo… it`s feeling –its_ _her!_ _I am such an idiot, a nitwit, a knucklehead for not being capable to let her go… damn it!'_ It was written all over his blue crystalline sad eyes –words that he couldn't say shimmered into those clear genuine eyes and they stole Hinata`s breaths away.

Even trapped into this hallucinate infect cell surrounded by an implacable darkness as he barely depicted the hollow of her lunar orbs, only aided by the pale sickening yellow light from the candles flickering along the halls, Hyuga Hinata was still a royalty, a mystique princess whose starry beauty was out of this world.

She couldn't see the stars or the moon and the sky that should have been her den, the realm of a suave crane like her. "W-Why are you h-here a-again N-Naruto?" Oh Kami– even the way she murmured such simple words felt like her tongue was coated in honey and vanilla while her lips dripped with ambrosia.

Her voice, her appearance were so soothing, calming Naruto`s raging mind with her mere presence, with her moony radiance exuding from her pearly glossy skin and he wished for nothing more than to kiss her lips softly, tenderly and feel it on his own skin how it would be like for a sinner like him to drop on his knees in pure gloating in front of the endless rivers of Paradise then satiate from it.

She was absolutely suave, angelic, pure and formidable in her beauty and it was so easy to imagine her grace as a sonata dedicated to romantic shining nights belonging to lovers; her portrait was picturesque and artistic and her beauty and elegance shone brightly, even in such a hostile environment.

' _Kami, I want to trade place with her. I want to be the demon that will make her rise back to the Heaven.'_ She would never know that the one who was a prisoner was _him_ because, from the moment when his azurite orbs found their way to her form, Naruto hasn't found his rest.

Every single figment that traversed his mind led back to her and the need to canoodle her, to caress her gingerly and foster her into his arms in such a lupine and intimate embrace.

"Of course that I did return to you _Hinata_." Sauntering to her until she had to glance skyward so as to depict his warm peculiar features as he melted the darkness around into an optimistic feeling frisking inside her and making her fingertips tingle pleasurably in need to touch his skin and let him warm her was incandescent, pure and sincere but she abstained from such an affectionate gesture that might betray vulnerability and desperation.

She must not stray away from her purpose and that was to gain his trust and escape there in order to regroup to the other shinobi that managed to escape and were probably scheming against him and his friends.

There mere representation of herself having to face him into a battle one day had Hinata panic as she nipped on her lower lip while looking from behind hyaline orbs as Naruto kneed before her like a knight, propelling his back on the wall beside her and silently as his luscious eyes pleaded with her softly to **trust** him and for a moment… Hinata submerged into that moment of complete exposure and weakness and yearned so much to let his lenitive stare and vivacious smile to enliven her completely.

But when his muscular bare arm spanned to her deliberately to melt the distance between them like a hand of _hop_ e outstretched to her –who was in need– like a bridge over two clashing lands threatening to carry her to the realm of darkness, he reached for her flute like slender waist and delicately with a touch that was as captivating and magnetizing as it was unexpected and firm.

Carefully Naruto maneuvered her easily into his embrace as he pulled her into his lap and wordlessly, his sturdy arms encompassed her tightly wreathing around her small back and her shoulders, and she inhaled sharply in surprise at how simmering _hot_ his body was.

"Oh!" Hinata squeaked when a bolt brimmed along her spine at the unanticipated contact but in the moment when she realized that Naruto was indeed _embracing_ her with such an overflowing emotion and affection, she nearly felt tears trembling into the corners of her eyes not expecting her to resolve to crumble like fragile porcelain under his touch; Kami his arms around her petite frame, overwhelming and spooning her so intimately entirely felt like she has been just a wandering spirit without a place in Paradise finding his eternal rest, bathed in eternal light –that feeling was beyond words, poetic, lyrical and emotional.

' _A husband… a lover… only someone like him could make me feel this way, could only give her such an amazing sense of belonging somewhere and being desired, adored and idolatrized by someone… Kami-sama, help me fight him off!_ '

No, she was not _that_ weak, Hinata mentally tried to reason with herself, but Naruto`s body warmth and the way his lips pressed gingerly in pure affection against the crown of her head, touching her like she _mattered the world_ to him was too strong to resist.

 _What is going on here, why is he acting like this?_

She couldn't depict that powerful emotion that coursed her entire system when she felt his sculpted body press intimately into her own exuding raw virility, strength that was as formidable as it was tempered, calmed and controlled, albeit the energy brimming through him was evident and lethal and not to mention the unparalleled feeling of being protected and cared for by him and Hinata simply couldn't represent it into her mind what his motive could be.

 _He cannot be sincere about his feelings towards me, no way!_ Uzumaki Naruto was just trying to play with her probably satiating from that malapropism of seeing her _beg_ for the smallest soupcon of pity and understanding, but she will not step so low and forgo her pride to him, no matter how rewarding and sincere his words seemed.

She tried to ignore that traitorous large part of her trying to peep from behind the thick layers of growing pathos and athirst for revenge, pleading for being listened to and alerting her about the possibility of Naruto`s words to be completely sincere.

He didn't seem like a manipulative liar similar his raven-haired companion who was probably a master at playing with the others` minds, twisting them and making their resolve crumble, no way.

But at the same time, a ninja`s most trusted powerful weapon was the ability to _deceive._ She must never forget those words.

"W-Why?" Hinata inquired with a broken soft voice soaked in muffled crying while flimsy tears shimmered along her cheeks wetting Naruto`s dark t-shirt but he didn't seem to shy away from her or mind her moment of exposing her inner emotions.

He simply held her dearly to him with a comforting possessive hold around her petite form remaining quiet as the sudden intimacy and candor between them bloomed like a timid red rose.

She couldn't imagine what might transcend his mind in that moment, Hinata had no idea of what was Naruto thinking about. There were no coherent ideas or words that filled Naruto`s mind currently, nothing but her presence and how _right_ it felt to have her so close to him.

That night, he had to see her more than anything in the world, so Naruto simply let his steps blindly and mechanically carrying him down the prisons as he was traipsing aimlessly through the night streets of the Leaf reminiscing about his days as an Academy student, only clad in a simple dark T-Shirt and his nin pants giving him a more mature touch, but still… his striking solar features shone brighter than the rays of hope that his presence aroused into Hinata`s chest.

His hold around her gracious form tightened as he seemingly wanted nothing more than to burn any distance between them, almost like she was a star that he was desperately trying to reach and hold forever in his eyes, on his palm, on his lips, into his arms.

She felt more fragile than a bellflower fluttering into the spring wind, beautiful beyond words as it encompass all the beauty and innocence in the world and so natural, so right to be into his arms and Naruto simply buried his nose into her lavish long hair, inhaling her floral scent and he nearly did something totally out of character and excessive, but Naruto hindered his movements on time, right before she had the chance to completely confirm her suspicions about him; he nearly leaned forward to _kiss_ her glazed porcelain cheek when he realized that she was openly crying on his shoulder.

So instead, squeezing his orbs shut tight as he bit the inside of his cheek hard, Naruto just held her in his embrace, dipping down his head and burying his face into her glossy lilac hair puffing his warm breath against the sensitive skin of her neck and earlobe and her pulse speeded up because of his mere proximity.

Naruto was gingerly touching her with a feather light touch, he didn't caress her in any insolent inappropriate way, he was just being so graceful with her like trying to hold dew drops in his palm but kept on falling prey to that illusion of intangible beauty, being his own enemy because she was so far out of his reach, afraid that she would perish from his sight.

"I had to see you _angel_... I _absolutely_ had to come to see you Hinata." His rasped voice was crisp and uneven as he looked troubled and nearly stunned her with such endearing words and appelatieves.

His azurite orbs were so exposed gleaming with unshared emotions as Hinata turned her face to glance at his masculine profile and nearly froze when she realized just how clumsy her gesture was because she has miscalculated just how _close_ to her he was. "I couldn't stay away from you... I simply could not. You are on my mind always, I can't stop thinking about you Hinata."

"N-Naruto–" Oh– how badly she wished that she could _kiss_ his lush chapped lips! They looked so masculine, so inviting and so warm, just like the rest of him.

 _Kami,_ how could she ever think about something like that? That was _so_ crazy, what was wrong with her?! She had morals, an education, dignity and decency so why was she thinking about kissing an enemy?

He knew how much she was hurting but Naruto had no idea about how conflicted she was; the lines of her drenched tears staining the every opaline of her white lily skin were cruel reminders of her suffering and she was most likely the avatar of the other shinobi`s similar pain."—forgive me Hinata."

Those simple words nearly crushed her resolve completely; a lock has been twisted with a golden key and Hinata closed her orbs when tears smothered started to burn but she quelled them because she was focusing on draining his chakra; that task must be done inconspicuous as it required finesse, spectacular precision and concentration.

She was draining and stealing his chakra while he was whispering to her words of affection, of an empty tormented man… she felt guilty, broken and dirty by doing such a thing to him, but Hinata knew that she had no choice. It was the correct thing to do –find her way out of there.

' _Why do we hurt each other so much and why do I feel each your pain so vividly while wanting nothing more than to estrange from you?'_

"You don't have to say anything else Hinata… just don't hate me, _please_. I will die if you loathe me Hinata."

Something that was beyond her mind`s reach made Hinata raise her trembling hands that were hapahazdly dropped on Naruto`s sides inconspicuously and softly tapping his arm as she was already working on her jutsu, and curled around his firm chest, pulling him into a timid embrace reciprocating to his own.

The feel of her embracing him like that stirred something warm, beautiful and comforting inside Naruto and if his naive untrained mind was to describe the feeling, it would be similar to that exuberance of returning back home to someone who waited for him lovingly and fondly.

He silently wished that Sasuke and his friends could feel that too, even for a moment, because it was just like a stairway to bring _peace_ into the world.

So pastoral, so romantic and chaste and void of anything erotic, explicit and sinful was their embrace as his right hand slowly threaded through her long hair fine-combing her locks gingerly, affectionately like sealing his possession on her and she literarily melted into his embrace.

Hinata pursed her lips so as to smother an unexplainable beam when she felt Naruto`s entire form tauten in surprise at her embrace, but he quickly relaxed and gave her shoulders a little squeeze tightening his own embrace around her form. Distance between them suddenly melted into a pleasant warmth.

She knew that she shouldn't feel this way about him and let herself be carried away along with his waters, but she couldn't help those feelings. Hinata was not expecting him to perplex her with such gestures and there he was acting like he was her secret _lover_.

But his words, his closeness, that connectedness, the unexpected intimacy found within the confinements those putrid stained cold walls in that cell was something that hit her like a hurricane; his smell was lenitive, protective and he looked so lost so lonely and vulnerable; a virtual image of their auras projected on a blurred road swept past her burning tears draining them as they nearly fell off her phantasmagorical hues.

To just **forgive** him... there she was, spending her days entrapped into her own plans to escape and hate this man and suddenly he comes back to her like he promised, bringing a plethora of new feelings to her as she tried desperately to understand, to sketch and analyze them but words failed her as her self-discipline vanished in thin air.

Hinata suddenly found herself poetical and artistically playing the image of purity that he had about her holding her outstretched hand for him to take while Naruto was helplessly dashing to her blinded by solitude, tears and hope holding it firmly as she led him to _salvation._

She couldn't help that image to pervade her mind while his chakra –his orange calescent chakra– started to flow through her fingertips in slow unnoticeable rivers while she let her hands wrap around his sinewy shoulders in a loose embrace, faking reciprocation and vulnerability –irony finest deception lied in their reversed roles– Hinata felt bits of him flowing along and all that suffering slowly dissipating.

' _I am lying to you… forgive me.'_

" _My_ angel... my own _salvation_... resides in you..." Naruto was rambling onto her skin words that fell from his lips in response to the plea of his heart.

They have hurt so many people so it was time to pay back for everything. He hurt _this_ angel, by killing the ones dear the her and then keeping her as a prisoner in this hallucinating place.

She was stealing his chakra with the finesse worthy of a prodigious clan`s heiress and Naruto was completely oblivious to it because Hinata knew that what she did was subtle, perfect almost artistic but effective, but deep inside, she was enveloped in shame, guilt and pain as she felt like _betraying_ him; which was stupid since this unforeseen conniption might just be a crotchet of him to seduce her out of boredom.

Hinata bitterly tried to imagine just how many women has Naruto charmed with the same sleek romantic words?

 _I don't trust you… I am sorry._

In another world of spirits ingrained deep inside his consciousness, the peacefully sleeping _Kurama_ has opened up an eye, sensing the flow of Naruto's chakra suddenly dissipate –it was in fine portions but the Nine Tailed Demon clearly perceived it and thus narrowed his menacing orbs puffing a hot steam of air through his flaring nostrils growling at its vessel and friend. " _Naruto! Wake up you blind idiot."_

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 **A/N: So as I`ve promised, here is another smaller chapter from the much longer one that I have split in order to make it easier to read and for me to check on the mistakes.**

 **Hope that you enjoyed it as well as I am not quite the fan of action fighting scenes. I do enjoy those Kung Fu female warriors so I hope that my depiction of Sakura`s fighting scene was capable to evoke the image of those beautiful warriors and give you guys a glimpse of those scenes.**

 **I apologize if the trick with Sasuke`s genjutsu felt confusing as well as the sequences and the transitions of scenes, but I will explain further in the next chapter if necessary, ok? To summarize, he cast his genjutsu from the very first moment when he came face to face to the enemy.**

 **Thank you:** **ILoveSxS , helloitsmarissa , guest , iWhoReads, Yami no Emi , anime1angel , Angelic Blossom** **for your reviews. I am delighted to hear that you guys enjoied my previous update and that you have been anticipating it. I love you guys!**

 **To all the readers of this story, you guys are awesome for giving this story a chance! Thanks a lot!**

 **I truly hope that you guys liked this chapter as well. I will do my best to update as soon as possible.**

 **So until next time, hugs and kisses, minna-sama!**


	15. Demons

**CHAPTER XV**

 **-Demons-**

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Hastily Sakura tore her lush lips away from his kiss, panting and blushing virgin pink, stammering while her orbs sought for his amused obsidian ones. "W—What are you doing Sasuke?!"

She took a shakily generous step backwards feeling the back of her knees stutter clumsily, wanting to whip the taste of his lips off her mouth but she couldn't even pretend to hate his kiss and this is why those tempting lips full of sin and mockery curled wider into a sexy defiant smirk.

There was a part of his well-practiced brazenness that Sakura absolutely loathed about Sasuke, but at the same time, she couldn't deny it that it suited his conniption in a way that arrogance will never suit anyone else like second skin, sheathing him flawlessly and adding to this aura of _intangibility._

For a moment, Sasuke has been trimmed by the sentiment of her actually having more backbone and willpower to reject his sensual flirting, or at least pretend that she wasn't affected, because her trembling palm elevated to her lips in a familiar gesture of aiming to whip the taste of his lingering kiss from her lips with the back of her palm, but instead, she glided it along her jaw to brush off her rivulets of sweat streaking along her pristine pearl skin from the previous fight; she was so naive and weak for him that it made him smirk wider.

Being the picturesque embodiment of a statue sculpted in marble, encapsulating ethereal endless beauty and a cold expression which spoke of anything but nothing at all, Sasuke simply tilt his head on his side and remained motionless in front of her amusing antics, hands tapping the back of his pockets casually; still half-naked and splendid chiseled and mocking her with those sable gleaming eyes alone.

The bastard was so very annoying and deliberately provoking the audience and his calmness and seemingly composure as constantly reminding his adversaries and interlocutors that he was the one in control was making even the most innocent ones feel coursed by this unexplainable asperity –ferocity that Sakura never experienced.

"Is this amusing to you? To play with my mind constantly until I break?"

The hurt in her tone seemingly didn't touch him as Uchiha jerked his shoulders indifferently like she had absolutely _no_ effect on him which in reality was far from the truth –but as always Uchiha was a prodigious actor in hiding it.

Vexation and acerbity shot through his entire carcass while hearing how she denigrated him without a reason –but how could she understand something that she couldn't see, it being his _hidden heart_? "I wouldn't question my sense of humor in vain if I were you Sakura."

Lips colliding with a childish pout as she tried to frown, knotting her delicate eyebrows together, Sakura nearly made the stoic man before him chuckle in amusement.

She was getting the privilege of experiencing so many new things with him, it including how to let negative emotions that were trapped in a sateen cocoon in the back of her mind, ones that she didn't know of and thus their out-body projection, unroll and that was completely funny in his eyes.

"Aish!" Her conniption was very similar to the one of a cute baby duck –of course, minus the part where she was actually everything _but_ ugly.

"You... _you_ — manipulator - _ehm_ \- b-bastard...?" Her curse came more like a rhetorical question since Sakura has never heard someone use colorful vocabulary, except for Naruto who fancied tossing vulgar insults at his friend.

Amused to no end by Sakura`s shenanigans, Sasuke fetched perfect raven eyebrow up at the strawberry blonde woman before him, only down casting his unfathomable orbs at her, mentally noticing how her bright rose blush sprayed on her high slender cheeks complemented her hair and her lush lips.

"Are you trying to curse me?" Seeing how her cheeks puffed in pure annoyance, Sasuke couldn't quell a short cackle when he realized that he could both make her feel pleasure _and_ anger.

"Well, you should put in a lot more effort into it Sakura. I am not the most polite man on the earth either."

She stomped to him in two furious large steps, cheeks flaring deep rose and puffing her lower lip as it enhanced that delicious heart shape of the tip of Cupid`s arrow and her orbs seethed with unspoken words, kindling an inner fire inside her that was blazing latent and waiting to burst.

One finger tapped against his sculpted chest using this meaningful silent body language to convey it to the rude Uchiha that she wasn't impressed by his imposing defying attitude, she babbled. "You have no smidgen of shame into your bones."

"You can do better than this." Sasuke challenged while actually taking an invisible step forward successfully making her pointed finger curl and immediately her palm landed on his tauten pectoral, closer to where his _heart_ was steadily thumping, but Sakura didn't realize it as she was focused on his facial expression.

"Are you trying to be a comedian? Is this a game to you? Are you actually _enjoying_ twisting and playing with my mind?"

"Aa." That signature cavalier aura never left his playful eyes as Sasuke cocked his head on his side to conceal a wide smirk beaming on the corner of his lips as he barely contained himself from laughing aloud at his girl.

"A game of _fools_ and guess what… _you_ are the main actress of the cast. Congratulations _Sakura_."

Purposely he unrolled her filigree name from his tongue enunciating ever single syllable in a melodious Latino resonance, making it even more exotic, esoteric and sensually mysterious, like dropping margarite gemstones on lace, just to make her feel uncomfortable, and, while her blood frothed in both anger and captivation as he was using subtle savvy means of fallacious erotic manipulation, she started to also feel lightheaded by his proximity and erotic presence.

"I am half tempted to believe that you are the unfortunate prey of some mental or psychological issues Sasuke."

She deliberately crisscrossed her arms upon her chest to apparently make a valid point, when in reality, her encased position betrayed just how bloody nervous she was by his explicit closeness and her own desire to touch his body, and Sasuke nearly cursed her for being so captivating and charming without even trying to be intimidating and goddamn _beautiful._

Was he that much of a sex craving deprived maniac or simply waded into some sort of deviant insanity like she was accusing him openly, since he was attracted by someone who was supposed to entomb the grace of innocence at its paramount while slowly submerging into the obscure waters of blood and wine sin _enjoying_ the game of the Devil a little bit too much?

Or ... was she the most mesmerizing smooth demon in disguise playing with him and if so, then why wasn't _he_ stepping forward and put an end to that absurd cat and mouse game that was transpiring between them? The whole atmosphere literarily sizzled with exotic chemistry blitzing between them in suppressed maddening carnal desire.

Even Sakura felt it resonating and sneaking under her skin, making her innards tremble in pleasure anticipating the feeling of Sasuke`s touches in resonance to how they mirrored into his stormy savage eyes.

That type of unparalleled quintessential _passion_ that only a man who had it running through his blood like Sasuke possessed.

The one that –regrettably enough turned Uchiha into the perfect forbidden and desirable _lover_.

"Maybe... maybe not, who knows? Besides," Boldly leaning forward to shadow her petite form entirely smirking cruelly and deviously down at her never breaking the sparkling eye lock with her, Sasuke`s mind started to simmer and _burn_ when explicit desires throbbed into his veins, amassing in places that he would have rather keep calm and under control, while Sakura instinctively stumbled two large steps backwards stupidly advancing to a bark of a tree trapping herself between the scraping hard wood and his body.

The real trap however resided in his eyes as a projection of his powerful _mind_ ; this is a universal fact that they both knew it.

When Sasuke outflanked his opponents, he first vanquished them mentally and then he was overpowering them physically.

This is where the core of his real strength resided —and is the same type of intimidation that he was using to subdue her entirely without even having to touch her.

"Everyone starting from the second Hokage claims that Uchiha is a c-clan possessed by… _evil_ ; demonic and insane."

Albeit he knew that they were only feared and envied for their skill otherwise being tossed and damned like outcasts for being splendid and then repudiated by the others because of jealousy, a twisted form of complacence and truce with his dark past made Sasuke wade into the feeling of being _feared._

It was a lot better than simply being discriminated and rejected —like Naruto in his childhood days.

By inflicting fear into the others it meant that they had the decency to at least stay the hell out of his way and refrain from exuding unnecessary vulgar arrogance and foolishness into thinking that they were superior to him in anyway —which was of course a blatant lie.

"It even makes this game eve more entertaining since I cannot be held accountable for my shortcomings and crimes since my deviant behavior can be explained by being completely _insane_ Sakura. Don't you think?"

Sasuke was anything _but_ insane and they both knew it. Only a completely lucid man could be so genius, a fine strategist, a visionary imagining a revolution to the current flawed and outdated system and also could be so… _genial,_ elegant, graceful and having perfect _control_.

But that didn't mean that he was less intimidating in the way he was constantly swinging moods with the easiness of a madman genius.

"S-Stay back..." Sakura`s elegant nightingale tune broke into million warm tremors rippling along Sasuke`s skin as he took two steps more towards the gulping woman, abruptly tapping his right hand against the bark, while using his left one to gently but firmly cup her chin when she tried to avert her eyes from him, lifting her face up with an abrupt jerk when she buried her face into her chest facing at her bare toes that were stained by the soaked mood and lush the vegetation and covered in bruises and fine lines of dry blood caused by the thick dry branches cutting into soft skin as she broke into a murmur.

"...Sasuke, please..." She nearly moaned when his sculpted angular cheek brushed hers softly when he careened to her so as his lips cupped her sensitive earlobe nipping on it with wet strokes and nipping, sensually and smirking widely when she involuntarily arched her long swan neck to make more room for him to touch her, beckoned by the fire in his touch.

His face fitted perfectly between her shoulder and neck, feeling the pyre boiling under her suave skin like a latent torch ready to roar back to life, in return, kindling his _own_ bonfire.

For the first time ever, Sasuke found himself literarily _desire_ a woman. _Badly._

"Your body wants me but your mind tells you to get away from me and push me back. This is exactly what I call to _toy_ with someone and _break_ her in half. And, just like you have first assumed, the entire charade is so damn _funny_ to me... _Sakura_ - _hime_."

He taunted her adding a suffix that was the representation of an angelic purity —which she physically lost to him— while her hands were already weakly trying to push him back but her fingertips on his pectorals sought for touching him rather than put some safe distance; they both knew it, thus it was only stupid to try to hide it in vain.

Sasuke had an unexplainable magnetic attraction towards Sakura in ways that no one else had. Not that she came in contact to many attractive men who openly coquetted her like he did, but Sakura has met both shinobi and civilians and none of them made her body and _mind_ react in such a way.

And she felt it that it was more than physical attraction and sexual arousal evoked by his striking gorgeous features.

It was impossible to covet and feel something so natural and beautiful by simply _lusting_ for his beautiful exterior.

Similar to how realization hit Sakura slowly in the form of a mini explosion, Sasuke also knew it from the first time they met —that he shall stay _away_ from this woman and never get physically or personally involved with her— but irony latched to him as well.

The tango of the Devil requested _both_ partners to step together; he also fell prey to the sin that she was; him, the demon in control, was falling for the helpless angel that he was supposed to break and crush.

He definitely was _insane_!

"W—Why did you kiss me?" Sakura smartly countered his arrogance with delicacy; innocence fighting with evilness, pristine vs. impure were never mixing but always seeking for their other halves, opposite forces colliding with magnitude and oozing of amazingly delicious chemistry.

Upon hearing her sincere and bold inquiry, Sasuke visibly tensed his entire chiseled frame suddenly turning serious and laconic, not expecting her to respond like that; she was so fragile and flimsy shy away like a schoolgirl and blushing under his scrutinizing glance and yet... he was _not_ completely dominating her, of course not, since feelings could never be voluntarily tamed and she already had feelings for him and thus his weapons against her were _not_ working.

And this chaffed Sasuke as badly as his need for her. This paradigm of love blinded by lust and suppressed emotions drove Sasuke insane with rage and desire.

The quietude falling between them in implacable silent screams of darkness and rejection signalized that Sasuke`s wheels were spiraling into his brain frenetically, as he was looking for the best words to counteract her and crush her spirit —like he should have done from the very first time. "Can't you see that I am a capricious man?"

He started casually like this had no significance to him and she was not having the power to affect him and get to him —which was a lie of course.

"You already assumed it yourself; I _am_ a twisted man beyond redemption Sakura, so what would you expect me to do? Offer you flowers? Chocolate? Romantic strolls under the moonlight? Hm?"

She gasped at him like a fish out of tank craving for oxygen while the gleam in his smirk didn't match the emptiness in his stygian eyes and nor that demonic stare.

There were two emotions dancing on his beautiful face and both were an enigma to Sakura. "Is this what you desire from a man Sakura?"

Beautiful but empty was the unequivocal description of Sasuke Uchiha; his beauty was so hollow, so _empty_ , so void like a painting genius without a name and with no emotion.

Only the genius execution of the breathtaking drawing and yet… unable to evoke feelings.

Did he even know how to be romantic, Sakura briefly wondered for starters. She didn't put it past Sasuke to be versed in something like that, so he was naturally mocking her of course, she concluded.

It was Sasuke the one to answer to his own question while his left hand was dancing in rippling circles along her bare thigh slowly traipsing under the hem of his shirt sheathing her denuded frame, kneading her hipbone as she shivered under his touch, nearly chocking on air but turning her head on her right side to face away from him.

"I don't do such idiotic things. _You_ on the other hand," Here is when that devilish dashing smirk —a lustful cocktail of sensuality, power and arrogance— took a mischievous glint as he whispered upon her lips, his minty fan blowing against her parted lips puffs of fire and ocean breeze, similar to breathing life through her and she went dizzy with desire for him; for those indescribable sweet sateen lips. " _cannot_ resist me and this is the most hilarious thing coming from such a _pure_ woman."

Because no matter how much Sakura tried to play the role of the saint and assumed victim, she will forever remain a Priestess as long as she was uncorrupted and angelic to her core; not even _him_ , the finest most seductive agile demon, could capture her heart with his darkness –but unconsciously, he succeeded it with his hidden _passion._

There was light encased into the very **darkness** and it took an angel to resonate with it and beckoned it back to where it belonged; in _her_ expecting arms.

Of course that the source of entertainment in Sakura`s ungainliness and visible distress to Sasuke didn't reside in her explicit attraction –because he was not impressed by throngs of easy women lusting for his looks as they were common occurrences to him– but her internal struggle of what she felt for him as Sakura has never experienced any sort of feelings for a _man_ or having been _intimately_ involved with a man.

He managed to make a Priestess struggle with understanding how **sin** worked and this is where the pure source of amusement resided; he was pinning her prim wings, the wings of a butterfly turning her into his trophy forever, capturing her beauty in eternity to only delight him and him only, forever.

He was such a sick bastard and Sasuke was aware of it but _damn_... the feeling empowering him was indescribable and quenching that salacious thirst burning deeply into his Uchiha blood.

This is why he took her lack of response and the bright rutilant shade burning her pristine cheeks as a hint to continue his mockeries as his lips tantalized her jaw, barely grazing her visage but her skin burned with that frail contact between them; _Kami_ — she was reciprocating like a withering rose by helplessly turning her head to the source of rain in order not to rot like begging for **life** force; to him. "Hm–"

"—you know _Sakura_ , while you were being entrapped into your heroic fight with those pathetic excuses of shinobi,"

Uchiha mocked and taunted those people by referring to them as filth under his shoe, as obviously Iwagakure had strong shinobi, but to him —to an _Uchiha_ — they were all a group of amateurs, a gang of cheap fools only attacking weaker than them people. "I was wondering about your initial reason to _stalk_ me all the way here."

A shocked expression aroused on Sakura`s embarrassed shocked features as she blushed brighter than the scorching sun at sunset, remembering how she gave herself to him, his touches, his gingerly caresses, his kisses and his body _filling_ her and fusing with her warmth so slow, so delicious, so _deep_ ; _God_ — he got aroused by only remembering her innocence alone and how he took it from her.

"Don't worry Sakura, I am not berating you for _enjoying_ it, on the contrary, it was my _pleasure_ to have you around," His sateen honey and wine voice went shivery low —impossibly low while he whispered sinful hypnotic words, so impure and so erotic.

"while making you _mine_ right here… on my _family`s_ land while it stirs something primal inside of me and I absolutely _love_ — _"_

 _"-_ stop saying such vulgar things Sasuke..." Sakura intervened while her voice didn't dare to go beyond a trembling murmur swallowing hard to quench that thirst that burned along her throat, trailing the missives as she blushed madly under his incandescent glare; those charcoal smeared eyes were so expressive, so dangerous, so _vivid_!

"Why? You clearly savored it and besides... no need to play the _saint_ now Sakura." A fine finger sliding under her chin as their stares burned together dancing hypnotizing commanding demanding and exploring, forcing Sakura to look into his eyes and not try to hide her feelings from him; it was futile anyways since this Priestess didn't know how to mask her emotions as good as him.

"You are only _mine_ now." Such a brazen sinful possessiveness and arrogance that Sasuke himself had no idea of where it came from sent electric jolts between Sakura`s thighs and a warm pressure pooled into the depths of her core, throbbing and bobbling up and down like a ball nearly making her tremble and moan aloud. Oh dear Kami— _why_ was something so sinful sounding so sensual and captivating?

"Hn." Sakura had to blink slowly deliberately twice as abruptly Sasuke went rigid and cold taking two hard large steps backwards hands racking thought his hair, glancing skyward and watching the velvety night sky burning with billion shimmering galaxies and no moon stating casually. "Let's go."

His conniption had a complete transformation, like nothing has just transpired between them and like no words have been exchanged.

"T-To where…?" Something in the way shivers rolled along her spine assured Sakura that he was not referring back to the Uchiha district; back _home_ as her mind involuntarily associated his former residence with her home —a place filled with joy, love and hope, a place to return to, a place where someone _dear_ was residing.

"To your precious Shrine obviously, where else would I want to go with _you_? Drinking? Partying? _Gambling_?"

Sarcasm never left his stygian orbs as he swiftly swiveled on his heels turning with his chiseled back on her only turning his head to peep at her, casually demanding it like he was entitled to find out her secret.

"Or possibly… go for another _round_ _of hot_ _lovemaking_ _in the middle of nowhere?"_

 _Actually, it was pretty symbolic how her maiden blood was now soaking into the soil of the land that belonged to his family as if uniting with those memories, merging and becoming another vestige of sacrifice, strong feelings, passion and_ _devotion_ _in his forgotten shelves; Sasuke realized it bitterly that he only had_ _memories_ _to fill his mind, but they never lasted till the end._

In the end, he was the only one to walk all _alone_.

Upon hearing his lascivious implication, Sakura stammered while shaking her head as her emerald orbs compelled shock and something else that Sasuke couldn't pinpoint but it was amusing to see.

"W-Wha— _n-no_ definitely _not!_ _H-How can you say such vulgar things…_ " She nearly bristled in pure frustration and annoyance when realization sunk in that Uchiha was mocking her, so cleverly and desperately ignoring the dark and libidinous carnal desire shooting between her legs to let him _fuck_ her hard and passionately right then and there, on the lavish canopy again, she frowned angrily at him nearly shouting into the starry night.

"I will definitely _not_ lead an enemy to stain a sacred place like my Shrin—"

"—the more time we waste here uselessly babbling and arguing over something so redundant Sakura then the more time we allow our enemies to formulate a plan and strike."

This is when his serious façade completely replaced the naughty playful one as he fully turned to Sakura with a luscious lethal look bleeding red on his eyes, menacing, and possessive, commanding and maleficent, but shockingly it was not addressed to _her_ personally but to the possibility of something _terrible_ happening in the nearby future. "Now... lead the way... _Sakura_."

She gulped once at the tone he used to spill her name but held her ground steadily in front of him, wetting her lips —his kiss his skin his taste lingered like poison unable to cease it away from her mind, being torn as her heart ached for him— and countering. "I absolutely _refuse_."

Her open defiance was not on Uchiha`s liking as he now openly glared at her and his eyes compelled every single maleficent figment that churned into his mind and actually Sakura had a hard time not to shiver in fear and something _else_ coursing along her spine under the intensity of that look he gave her.

That beast inside of him combined with his dark demonic gorgeous features, the pristine skin and fallacious composure embroidered with the elegance that she knew he possessed while making love to her were all poison and aphrodisiac.

What she dropped next kindled something beastly within him that was as hallucinating and lethal as it was drop dead irresistible. "You cannot _make_ me do anything against my **Will**."

She just had to reiterate that, didn't she? "Provoking me Sakura… is _not_ among the smartest things that you can do."

In two firm steps, he sauntered to her and immediately a muscular arm cupped her waist and hauled her forcibly into him as Sakura`s feet nearly detached from the cold soil and she gasped silently while her sparking jadeite orbs widened in fear and _thrill_.

Since Uchiha never lost the peculiar touch of exquisite grace and elegance —not even when he fought— there was something irresistibly erotic when he was less controlled and more brutal, something that excited Sakura in ways that she never thought it would.

"Do not foolishly extend the span of my patience Sakura, for I must warn you beforehand that I am definitely _not_ a patient man. You are already walking on thin _ice_ here."

Every single word sounded coated in pure venom and malice; he was openly threatening her with so much rapacious ferocity in his eyes that she nearly shivered and whether it was in apprehension or thrill Sakura didn't know because there were polarized chemical reactions coursing through her body all making her literarily shiver in his arms —maybe it was the prospect of Sasuke _never_ genuinely aiming to hurt her the thing that allowed Sakura to find passion and attraction for this lethal, dangerous and dark side of Sasuke.

Her palms automatically glided gently along his sculpted arms up to his round shoulders as she didn't even realize that her laborious breathing has stopped altogether like not wanting to create any ripples in that suffocating _intimacy._

Sasuke on the other hand, inwardly cursed his stupidity to embrace this woman and gather her flimsy form into his arms as he realized just how could he crush her spiritually and physically with one single touch and this newfound dominance and possession over her made his blood boil; Kami— it took every smidgen of self-discipline not to throw her on the grass and _fuck_ her ferociously until she couldn't walk straight.

"Sa-Sasuke... you are hurting m-me..." Her feeble attempt to struggle and trash out of his grasp half-heartedly made her wobble in his arms but he was steel and unmoving simply gazing at her with an indecipherable expression on his beautiful face, waiting for her to compose herself.

But despite his professedly disimpassioned attitude, his fire eyes turned stormy and swiveled blood red betraying his inner turbulence — a fire that his chest couldn't contain anymore.

A fine line of blood seeped along his elegant alabastrine high cheek and resembling the painting of a royalty soaked in blood tears, beautiful, descriptive but decadent and deviant in its own beauty.

Worry simmered inside her chest as she looked deeply into his eyes with a look that only a concerned _wife_ would give him upon seeing the abnormal shimmering of a rich wine like of blood seeping from his eye while in return, Sasuke turned from unruffled to mild curious about her reaction.

A light frown crept upon his angular face following the subtle reactions of her body language, while her lips moved slowly almost unnoticeably but words would not unroll; was she talking to herself?

Incredibly how Sakura managed to swap her two masks in a nanosecond, swinging between innocently cute and smartly sexy and erotic altogether, but Sasuke realized that every woman had her peculiar unique charm that was yet to be unraveled and so did Sakura. "...y-your eyes... they are... oh Kami— they are _bleeding_!"

Her nightingale voice trembled with worry for him and something actually flickered and panged inside his chest briefly like a sudden shuddering, a discharge of electricity nearly making his frown deepen. "Sasuke, you are _hurt_!"

The tenderness in her voice hasn't been lost as well as the delicacy and grace of her gestures, brimming with an affection and longing that she shouldn't display and yet her sincerity was disconcerting him as Sasuke couldn't fathom where the quintessence of such a pure forgiving nature was coming from, so pristine, so ineffable, so gracious and diaphanous and so far out of reach.

His ears were deaf to what she was fretting about, as he was accustomed with his eye`s strain by overusing the Mangekyou Sharingan so he didn't delve into the problem at all, instead, he simply stared into those aureate orbs following how the gold in her irises bleed mesmerizingly with the forest green scintillating hues.

He felt so small and stupid in comparison to how much beauty and purity lied in a world blinded by blood and ambitions as she was the embodiment of a golden key and a tool to maintain a balance in power and also being the guard of such a formidable power, so uncorrupted and void of any infatuation and mischievousness to snatch it and use it for his own benefit.

This selfishness was something that Sasuke openly admitted, but he could not help it; he too had his limits and she was an enigma.

Her voice was like a sanctuary welcoming him the sinner inside. Blinking once as his vision was strained as he knew he overdid it while practicing his Genjutsu —more like a vestige to Itachi than he actually needed it lying to himself that he did it to test it and train his skills— he simply stared at the emotions changing inside her emerald orbs; she was worried for _him_ —who has always hurt and reject her.

The intangible ancestral enigma of this frail but stunning woman slipped from Sasuke`s understanding; she was an infinite ineffable mystery to him —baffling and befuddling him with every gesture.

Sakura`s delicate porcelain doll arm rose in slow motion under Sasuke`s scrutinizing glance while his orbs were following intently every motion; Sakura brought her fingertips on his cheek cupping his face tenderly and brushing the blood tear away off the corner of his eye with genuine worry orbs bathed in concern, in... _love_.

 _Love?!_

 _What…_

… _The …_

… _Hell?!_

Blinking once to make sure that his mind was not tricking him into overlapping emotions that his _heart_ desired to feel, that he was not misinterpreting her gestures, Sasuke resisted the urge to slap her hand away like burning him for a reason that kept him frozen in place.

The gesture he made when cocking his head and raising his chin was similar to a savage horse refusing to be tamed hurt her beyond belief and suddenly Sakura felt _emptier_ than a river drained of water; the sentiment cut deep as he tried to circumlocute those feelings to surge through her but she couldn't.

 _Rejection always hurt._

* * *

"Stop." He curled his digits around her wrist in a firm grip that was aimed to make a valid point but her fingertips still lingered like filigree poetry grazing his milky sateen skin; the skin of his cheek staining her ivory digits smearing it with _his_ blood, and not just any sort of blood, but _Uchiha_ blood; the unique blood that entombed both _darkness_ and royalty in one single ruby diamond.

Cursed but regal, strong and exquisite shimmering along the contrast with her snow white skin. Even to someone as pragmatic as Sasuke, it felt heavily symbolic, beautiful in its decadent way and very _very_ intimate.

Maybe even more personal than when she has been his girl because unlike that time led by mostly carnal lust and scintillating passion, this time around, they were seeing each other`s weaknesses, tasting the same fragrance of pain on their own skin.

"Hn. This is nothing." He stated it calmly casually and serenely more to soothe her than anything, but she kept on staring at him in a way that made his heart ache for her and his mind to froth.

Why was Sakura still leering into his eyes like this? _He_ was nothing to her, nothing and no one but an enemy, a captor, a stranger, a criminal, a rogue young shinobi who denied the current system and was a renegade, a wanted S-Ranked Shinobi in the Bingo Book of all the Five Nations.

"Nothing? How can you _bleeding_ be nothing Sasuke?" Her voice held trepidation and emotion it nearly broke him too; his heart stammered as it missed a beat and he actually inhaled an empty air. Like a string of a broken harp.

"People who are fine do _not_ bleed without a reason! Are you straining your eyes maybe? This is the infamous Sharingan right? Uchiha clan`s reputed _kekke genkai_. Does it always hurt like this?"

 _Heh… you have no idea…_

Her eyes softened and held warmth and care and some sort of sympathy that made Sasuke slightly curious at the way she reiterated it almost like actually having an insight of what it truly meant to awaken the Sharingan —or have the blood of the _cursed_ and _despised_ Uchiha clan running through his veins.

And that thought alone, as he knew that she was probably overestimating her cognitive abilities and actually deluded herself into thinking that she will ever come near close to understand about the pain that he harbored and the heaviness he shouldered as an Uchiha heir, made him scowl at her; saying nothing about how he _truly_ felt.

He didn't need to explain himself to her now, did he? So what if she _would_ understand if he tried to tell her the truth?

And why would it feel so amazing to finally be able to share the pain with someone who might be _interested_ to listen and eventually genuinely _care_ for his feelings?

He was Uchiha Sasuke and thus he didn't need to latch to such useless bonds; he had a strong mind and an unflappable steadfast personality.

He didn't need her to soothe him, on the contrary it felt more like _she_ was the one who needed someone to care for her badly.

Deep inside of him however, in places that hatred and pain could not submerge, on the bottom of his most personal intimate abysses where the _real_ him resided, Sasuke knew that what Sakura felt, so sincere and beautiful and heart-jerking, were all things that he didn't deserve.

Not a man like _him._

His eyes were half covered by lush raven eyelashes as he tried to eschew from her emerald gaze but she found a way to get closer to him nonetheless.

His chest burned like something more than just oxygen was missing from his lungs and he cursed Sakura for all that plethora of feelings that he hasn't feel in ages —ever since his family died.

"It`s hurting you; I can feel it." And not only through their Jutsu, but she felt his pain with every iota of her body like a fine imperceptible electric surge, telepathic and connecting their hearts to the same beat.

How could she _not_ feel it? It was not her pain because Sakura had a clear mind void of dubiety.

It was his pain and somehow that anguish hurt more than anything. "Kami— I n-need... you have to rest Sasuke pleas—"

"—this entire conversation is useless." Not even blinking, Sasuke cut her short sternly and probably sounding harsher and more calloused than he intended to, but this woman was already getting dangerously close to him and he did _not_ want her to take those forbidden steps.

"We are wasting precious time here." Abruptly just like his feelings changed as they were projected on the outside, Sasuke pivoted smoothly on his heel and slapped her hand away off his body, hearing enough of her worrying for him.

Because in reality, as much as he willed himself not to care about her, in the moment she started to murmur the word _'please'_ with that broken voice that sounded like a prayer sent from Heaven to a _sinner_ , Uchiha was convinced that he was going to lose it for real; she inflamed and perturbed and _affected_ him more than anyone should have had.

"...b-but you are hurt Sasu— hey, wait for me! I have not agreed to anything!"

Hastily joggling after the stoic seemingly angered Uchiha who sank deeper into the lush forest after leaving her broken and shocked to the core with his puzzling demeanor, Sakura pouted comically as she caught to him when he stopped in the middle of a small clearing where the stars` diaphanous cold light created a silvery diamond pool into the fresh grass. "You are so pompous Sasuke!"

He gave her a gaze that was all stoic and unfathomable not even showing it that he was in the bit insulted by her; this woman trying to curse him was such an epic fail that he couldn't even get angry at her really. "Can you walk slower please, I am so tired Sasuke!"

Clicking on his tongue in pure exasperation releasing a very explicit _'tsk'_ like she was the most _annoying_ person on the entire universe, he rudely turned his back on her and padded with big steps, somehow hoping to lose her without making it look like he was _running away_ from her.

God, what the _heck_ was _he_ doing?

Upon realizing that he resembled a big idiot actually running from a harmless woman who kept on running after him grimacing and mumbling like a small kid tripping on every single branch that stretched under the fallacious slippery vegetation, stumbling on her feel with the ungainliness of a civilian who never had ninja training and balancing on her delicate feet like afraid to even step hollering after him, Sasuke stopped abruptly, clenching his sharp jaw as he sighed heavily, nearly rolling his orbs in exasperation.

Definitely he looked like an _idiot_ being chased by a foolish clumsy woman. So they _both_ deserved the title of _morons._

In her haste to avoid something that gleamed into the night scaring her shortly, mindful not to trip on some branches, Sakura hasn't realized it that Uchiha has come to a halt until it was too late; clumsily and comically, she bumped her nose into his sculpted slender back, this time tripping on a branch as the wood cracked under the pressure with an eerie sound piercing the heavy quietude around, resulting in her ricocheting backwards as his body making it feel like she was crushing into a wall of bricks, landing on her bare ass while his shirt on her rode up because of the air breeze blowing under the loose hem, as she stammered on her heels with her spread palms slamming on the ground. "Auch! It hurts!"

Sasuke turned around and looked at her with an absolutely unreadable expression in his narrowed onyx eyes, not actually believing it that _this_ idiot was the same woman who faced those Iwagakure shinobi bravely, humiliating them without even having her chakra unlocked and nearly took _him on_.

He realized that he didn't understand a thing from Life`s mysteries. This woman puzzled him more than anyone else before.

She was beyond _annoying_ and, oh— suddenly he felt the need to do things to her that were even stupid to him.

Things like being angry without any valid reason, or scold her and he was positive that they would look like a young couple with marital problems but holy damn… as much as she was angelic and divinely beautiful with her innocent overcome and out of this world breathtakingly suave and mesmerizing features, her personality was even more complicated than his own.

And that said a lot!

But that was not the biggest issue that Sasuke had regarding her, no. His main problem as his onyx orbs, intuitive and keen as they were being perfectly adapted to pierce through the darkness around fell on a very _interesting_ spot as he realized it that Sakura wore nothing underneath _his_ T-Shirt that rode really high along her thighs rippling around her hips.

While she was mumbling incoherent things about her clumsy fall trying to press hard on the ground and rose into a standing position, she landed in a very unfortunate explicit position with her long gazelle legs spread wide apart, knees bent to a sharp angle, hips pressed forward as she looked at him with such a pure and innocent look in her orbs, in complete contradiction to that sexual position and that nearly made him gasp.

That was one of the rare moments when his self-discipline was being challenged and thus he truly proved it that he had self-control.

Because _damn_ … karma was laughing hard at him probably punishing for his actions so far.

Basically her eyes were sparkling with purity, angelic, confused and comic, the pout stretching her glossy plump lips was pristine and baffled as she puckered her lower lip probably because the thick sharp branches and plants sprinkled into the soil scratched her sensitive skin... and _everything_ between her slender thighs that were not covered by any piece of cloth or lingerie was openly _exposed_ to him.

His eyebrow twitched in pure annoyance while he snorted hard through his nostrils crossing his hands upon his bare muscular chest blinking slowly once giving her a slow perusal refraining from showing it just what she was doing with him; oh Kami— Heavens were castigated him by was punishing him for all his crimes. "Just…what are you doing Sakura? Are you blind or plainly stupid?"

Keeping her guilty pout on her apologetic features, Sakura quickly downcast her emerald orbs as she realized in horror just what Sasuke meant by his rough affirmation and why was he looking at her with a confusing look in his orbs, nearly shrieking as she dragged her feet together to cover her modesty, hauling his shirt down on her body to cover her knees that were now folded under her neatly, blushing furiously in pure embarrassment, shaking her head, averting her orbs on her left side at her palm that was soaked into the mood and—

* * *

"—AH!" She jolted forward in a nanosecond shocking the Uchiha himself as she landed straight into his arms, knocking his body as his arms unfolded from where they were aligned with his tauten pectorals, stiffening when adrenaline fused with his blood, forcing him take two generous steps backwards because of the impact.

"What the fuck woma—" It was pure instinctual his gesture to let his left hand coil around her midsection embracing her as she clung to his naked chest, screaming at the top of her lungs and burring her nose into his pectorals, both her hands digging into his shoulder blades as she embraced him tightly gluing herself to him.

"—S-Snake! _Kami_ , there was a _white_ snake curling around my fingertips _ah_ — help!" She trembled furiously and unexplainably as she was visibly going into panic mode by seeing that hissing creature crawling under a bush and somehow, Sasuke found it funny and pretty ironic that a Priestess connected to nature`s rhythm was scared by an _animal._

But then he realized that she only cherished **light** and birds as vestiges of fertility and _regeneration_ , while the snake, albeit the symbol of luck and prosperity as well as reincarnation, was forever cursed to spend his life sneaking into the **shadows**.

His lips curled upwards when Sasuke grasped the in-depth of that parallel between light and darkness as he overlapped _their_ avatars.

By this logic, Sakura should loathe and resent _him_ as well by being the representation of darkness, just like that snake.

Stupidly, he had a fugitive image of Orochimaru`s sickening obsession with those creatures, one that Kabuto inherited and seemed to share, but their sadistic penchant for experiments and thirst for knowledge, immortality and occult rituals was impure and in so much contrast to nature`s regenerative cycles. Those two freaks…

"You are so... so… so—" Words have failed him while Sasuke realized that there were none to depict this girl.

She was a mystery, a wonder, the embodiment of refinement and ineffable, the sculpture of a nymph, the soul of an angel trapped into a child's eternal beauty with eyes pristine like virgin snow, with cheeks like red roses, with lips seductive and sinful like wine, with curves of a Goddess, the battle skills of a warrior princess and the mannerism of the changing wind; always unpredictable, always splendid —like the wind.

"Sakura," Sasuke started softly but firmly while she nearly escaladed his body like climbing a rocky cliff, afraid to even touch the soil as her toes were curling in pure anxiety and glued to his own bare feet, throwing worried glances backwards as her digits dug deeper into his sculpted back; she pressed herself boldly and intimately into his muscular body searching for shelter.

And yet, all that Uchiha could think of was how his blood simmered at the tickling hot sensation of being grazed by her soft skin pressing on his.

That added to the sudden sense of protection and delicacy that awaken inside of him for her.

"You are stepping on my feet." Indeed she does, Sakura noticed, as she looked down like trying to learn how to dance by climbing on his feet and actually his ankles were starting to ache.

The serene and calm way of just stating that fact while she trembled like a leaf carried away by a storm was pure comedy.

"Huh?" Shoulders beginning to relax when Sasuke`s warmth sheathed her like a protective mantle, Sakura quickly glanced down to see her bare thighs trapped between his strong ones, knees touching and her feet stepping hardly and painfully on his own and by the way she had her hands possessively coiled under his armpits, Sakura hasn't even realized it just how erotic that position was, but Sasuke did.

Sensing how his breaths became irregular and shorter as his chest rose and fell rapidly, she realized that he was uncomfortable by her presence, foolishly mistaking his arousal and lust for annoyance and mumbling a short apology, Sakura quickly wobbled backwards blushing softly.

"Oh— I am sorry I didn't meant to h-hurt you." Albeit Sasuke had no idea of where that fit of melodious giggled came from as she rubbed her nape and looking into his eyes shyly and sheepishly, that remorseful jolly gesture reminded him of Naruto.

Of course, _idiots_ had reminiscent common traits, he deduced.

Remembering her reason for freaking out, Sakura shrieked while glancing around her frenetically and leaping from one foot to another, like she was surrounded by an army of angered rapacious bugs nearly making Sasuke cringe at the resonance of her voice.

"The snake! I don't like snakes! Don't let it get close to me! Where has it gone or—"

"—calm the heck down, it won't do you any harm for fuck`s sake Sakura, get a hold of yourself, you are being so obnoxious."

Something was fishy and bizarre about her attitude, Sasuke noticed and this time, he went deadly serious studying the finest and most subtle gesture that characterized her apparently moment of being startled by a disgusting creature.

The way she glanced around apprehensively like being terrified by a mere harmless snake, hands and knees trembling like jelly, hands pressed against her chest and twined into a praying hand sign, nearly sobbing as her emerald orbs were scrutinizing her surroundings in that anxious way, like she was suddenly the prisoner of a violent nightmare consisting in an endless canopy of snakes encircling her ankles, trembling like a kitten in the cold rain and her fingertips grazed his arms suddenly making him frown down at how she scurried closer to him once again, obviously debating whether to embrace him again or not.

It didn't take a genius to realize that Sasuke wasn't exactly the most affectionate and caring man around.

Ignoring the feeling of her fingertips slowly tentatively curling around his biceps, Sasuke inquired with a slight quirk of his fine raven eyebrow looking at her ruffled form rather than concerning himself with whatever the heck stupid snakes she was afraid of.

"What`s wrong? Why are you so fretting out like this? It`s just a harmless disgusting snake Sakura, nothing else. It won`t do you any harm."

Something was definitely not right with her but he didn't know what exactly.

"I don't... I know that..." Her voice was distant and overflowing with panic and terror as she trembled scooping even closer to his inviting warmth again and what puzzled Sasuke was that the color drained off her face entirely making her look like a dying star.

And when she glanced to his face looking deeply into his eyes, he nearly choked on air at her expression, listening at what she softly whispered to him. "Snakes... I don't like snakes Sasuke. I don't know why but I never did like them. They scare me... they scare me so badly and I don't know why." Slowly as her orbs moistened with slick tears, Sakura turned her head over her shoulder and let her cheek tap against his chest.

Thankfully, Sasuke didn't push her away but not reciprocated either; he didn't do or say anything at all, not because he was being rude or mocked her phobia, but because he was busy ruminating.

What was that, a memory? A nightmare? A mere snake phobia? His Sharingan was far too tired and exhausted to flip through the pages of the journal of her locked memories now and find the core of her panic.

So he sighed heavily in annoyance and racked a hand through his messy hair , actually coiling a muscular arm —out of complacence, this is what he kept repeating to himself— around her shoulders and whistled loudly once, startling her to the core as she didn't expect him to do that.

"Sasuke...?" Confusion married her features as she followed Sasuke`s orbs that were set in the distance glancing right in front of him and passing the crown of her head and suddenly the air was swiftly pierced while a black horse that was painfully familiar suddenly leaped in perfect galloping into the clearing where they were resting, landing right where the snake tried to squirm away from them, as it appeared into their view, being splendid and raven and luscious and gorgeous into the midnight, nostrils snoring and his mimics were so very similar to Sasuke, arrogance, elegance, royalty and nobility with a right dosage of cockiness. "Oh?!"

That animal was astonishingly beautiful as its lavish sparkling raven mane was ruffling into the wind in a picturesque breathtaking vista perfectly completing the night scenery.

"I will definitely not carry you into my arms all the way to the Shrine if that is what you were imagining Sakura. I am neither some sort of a knight on a shiny armor riding a white horse nor a... _hero_ or even worse, your _husband_."

Smirking in pure delight when he got the much anticipated response from the woman, the Uchiha mocked with a short chuckle as he detached from her grasp and strolled to the capricious animal which recognized his equally temperamental owner, petting his nose and rich mane with an earmark delicacy and attention.

That horse was definitely being envied by hordes of frustrated lustful women all around the shinobi world…

Sasuke looked like just the horse`s human form has just metamorphosed into an dark angel emerging from the creature that he was petting with so much affection that it even startled her.

Sakura glanced anxiously around still under the shock of adrenaline surge, making sure that there was no trace of a snake in her vicinity —danger always paled in front of Sasuke and his horse, the epitome of power, grace and nobility.

Immediately Sakura felt a wave of relaxation washing warmly over her spine and thus she smiled widely, enthralled by the pastoral scene unfolding before her warm scintillating emerald eyes.

Albeit she knew it that the apparently serene and picturesque image, as exquisite and splendid as it was, it was also fallacious because Sasuke and those horse were very unpredictable, stormy and lethal.

But the magnetic attraction was undeniable and thus Sakura advanced forward strolling cautiously with baby steps to them, stopping abruptly and gasping silently when the horse snorted menacingly in a capricious savage way upon sensing seeing her approaching him and did a gesture of tilting his head in a similar way to what Sasuke did when he was being rude and presumptuous.

Falteringly, Sakura nipped on her lower lip shyly daring to steal a glance into Sasuke`s onyx eyes while he only flickered his intense irises to her, not even turning his head over his shoulder but rather focusing on petting his horse.

She noticed that he was doing in a deliberately gentle but firmly way, taming him instantly and that was marvelous since that was definitely a wild and rebel horse which wouldn't allow just anyone to subdue him but rather someone who exuded much authority and power.

"The horses cannot see you if you stay in front of them." He briefed her calmly betraying no emotion whatsoever as he stopped briefly to run his hand over the horse`s rich mane, brushing his palm over his side.

"Come stand behind me." He beckoned her but his velvety voice was all sateen and no trace of lingering anger in it; Sakura immediately obeyed to him feeling an unexplainable flickering of thrill course through her when she tried to anticipate what his ideas were.

"Oh— so it cannot see me from this angle? I d-didn't know Sasuke, _warui ne_..." Smoothly like a crane`s flight of pure grace and elegance, Sakura encircled Sasuke`s lithe form and suddenly the horse snorted loudly again as it seemed to be focusing his smoldering big charcoal eyes to her angelic form and slightly raised his head slowly leaning forward in a gesture that might have signalized that he didn't like her presence or was aggravated, but she knew that she was misinterpreting it because Sasuke was relaxed.

When she realized that the horse was checking her on deliberately studying the sylph silhouette of that small woman with esoteric features and pearly glowing skin, Sakura understood that the horse was having the same arrogance in his air as Sasuke himself when he kept his posture high and regal but extremely defiant and chauvinistic and thus that elicited a suave melodic giggles that she tried to stifle with her palm pressed on her parted lips.

Sakura learned by the way that excellent black horse with its lush mane glowing like polished chrome was slowly and leisurely moving his head back and forth but without signalizing that he was perturbed by something, it definitely loved to be petted and spoiled. She wondered where it got that trait from…

"Hehe… so _so_ incredibly beautiful!" Whether Sakura`s genuinely mesmerized remark was forwarded to Uchiha, the horse or _both_ of them, Sasuke had no idea but smirked anyhow as he nodded once to her —for a reason that he couldn't understand.

But he perceived the same thing as his stupendous horse; the purity and delicacy in Sakura`s bell like soft voice and how her features were illuminated and glowed like the rarest pearl into the soft night was magical, ethereal and so warm, so lovely.

Something _deep_ moved and ached inside his chest. An emotion that Sasuke has long deemed as dead and forgotten but like always, he kept his composure and betrayed nothing of what he was feeling.

The horse on the other hand seemed to be sensing the change in his aura because he was flaring his nostrils in a way that wanted to convey to his master that he was the biggest idiot in heavy denial and he was also _laughing_ at him for his stupidity.

Brushing those useless feelings away off his mind, Sasuke decided to focus on the present time as they have already wasted enough time —hence his calling of his horse— but he couldn't help himself around that woman who was trembling in anticipation to touch the beautiful animal with her jolly fingertips.

When he swiftly turned around to face Sakura who was still standing safely into his shadow behind his back —a little bit too close to him if he was to be honest— playfully yet portraying a serious expression on his striking features, only his orbs taunting and challenging, chin held high while the horse tapped its nose over his cheek, she nearly melted into the ground at the obvious sign of affection.

Glossy lips tinged into the shade of a virgin red rose curled upwards as they were graced by a solar wide smile and she looked at Uchiha Sasuke in complete wow and reverie, noticing how incredibly _young_ he looked like that, taming an animal who was the embodiment of power and savagery with a simple touch of his elegant hand, so bright and so angelic —traits and qualities that one would never associate with Sasuke.

But then again, Uchiha were always notorious for how deep and unpredictable they were, and thus this made them so irresistible, so noble and strong and so difficult to depict and understand.

A sudden move of his right hand outstretched to her as he turned on his side assessing her with an intense look in her eyes caught her attention and her emerald pools shifted from gazing at his face to his elegant palm, blinking in confusion as he remained silent and with a serene but deep and challenging expression hidden behind those amazingly colored coal eyes, then lowering back on his hand. "...?"

Sakura glanced at his hand with such a stare in her golden viridian eyes like he offered her shimmering diamonds, then switched back to his eyes searching for an answer there and she was surprised that she found some sort of amusement instead of the usual coldness and that deep rich look made her slightly blush immediately flickering her orbs back to his expectant hand, unsure of what should she do.

"You are even slower than the horse Sakura. You share the same level of intelligence with the Ramen obsessed idiot and Kiba."

His voice was velvet and full of amusement as he mocked her, immediately making a light comical pout grace her glossy lips as she pursed her lower petal to him frowning.

Still she couldn't get mad at him because in the past few days that she spent in his presence Sakura quickly understood that this was Sasuke Uchiha`s character; rude, sarcastic and smart in his ironies but enigmatic and seductive — _hot_.

Gulping once as the prospect of holding his _hand_ suddenly enhanced the tension between them, Sakura tentatively unwrapped her fingers as they were tucked upon her heart leading it to his patient open hand and gracefully placed her palm upon his warm own; immediately he unclasped her hand in his like a snake as if preventing her from pulling back from him in a sudden change of mind and tucked on it briefly leading her closer to him, stepping on the side to make place for her to join him.

Sasuke held in his smirk as he saw this petite woman`s small steps shifting through the grass cautiously and unconsciously squeezing his hand as her body language betrayed curiosity but slight reticence.

His horse watched the pair in arrogant silence refraining from any temperamental gestures, head still held regal high and shadowing them both; she could clearly depict the white star shape embellishing his raven forehead and it was a pure blood Yemen horse... beautiful beyond words. Magical even and so very fairytale like and that was exactly why her heart missed a beat.

A rare beautiful specimen seemingly holding unknown mythological powers was his picturesque image and for a young girl like her, it was the embodiment of a wishful dream that any girl would have in search for that _fairytale_ undying love, with two symbolic elements; the horse and the handsome prince, only this time, they were both _demons_ instead of angels but exquisite and elegant nonetheless.

The horse immediately understood Sasuke's gesture and Uchiha flickered his obsidian orbs to the horse`s somehow his being even richer in that amazing onyx shade than the animal`s, a meaningful stare of both affection and warning him to behave and the horse seemed to read his mind, not showing signs of anger towards the _girl._

He didn't even intended to, because Sakura bore no trace of danger to him, only light — _so_ much light, peace and love. She was the embodiment of adoration and happiness and just as Sasuke felt it, the horse perceived it too.

"Sasuke…" She breathed while her orbs shifted from looking at the imposing horse who seemed to be pinning her with the same stoic and intense stare as Sasuke`s, to the Uchiha as he slowly brought their palms on the horse`s side and just like he combed its raven mane before, he repeated the action with both their intertwined hands and Sakura`s sateen fingertips came in contact with the horse for the first time; its raven tatch felt just as sateen silk and soft like Sasuke's hair Sakura noticed in wonder, and its appearance exuded the same untouchable power and elegance.

Rebel spiky and apparently rough and rebellious but incredibly smooth to the touch as her fingers run along the horse`s side.

What an incredible sight of her smiling brightly, brighter and more shimmering than any star above as she grew bolder seeing that the horse was amazingly not doing any wild gestures marveling at the shades dancing on his skin, gleaming electric silver and tinge blue in the night sky.

Just like Sasuke`s. She never realized that the way her heart leaped into her chest was because Sasuke`s warm palm pressed against hers elicited so much confidence and protection that she was not afraid to even get close to such a wild dangerous animal, but as long as he was with her… she felt _strong_ and confident.

In the grace of a romantic _Devil_ every demon turned into a docile angel. Naturally most of the people would fear a man like Sasuke and an animal like his horse for their rough overcome and branding the darkness in their eyes as a curse instead of  emptiness and loneliness, but not Sakura.

Because underneath all the layers of stoic coldness, if she could reach his heart, Sasuke could give her that passionate love that no other man could, being a lover that would place her on a temple inside of heart, kneeing before her like a sinner begging for forgiveness, adore her and worship her.

* * *

 _This world placed a curse between us when in reality… it feels so simple and perfect to be with you._

Coltish giggles traveled past her lips as her fingers danced on the horse`s mane sliding her small digits through Sasuke`s lean ones as he curled them around her knuckles being absolutely fascinated about the pastoral scene.

"I c-cant... he is… amazing!" Her chuckles were like a kid`s merry when going to the seaside for the first time and tapping the toe on the warm water emerald waters. "I mean... he doesn't... does he like me Sasuke?"

The Uchiha simply smirked to her watching her so amused state with much interest —unbeknownst to him he was captivated by her.

She would never know but his horse didn't let _anyone_ else but Sasuke get so close to him and pet him, not even Naruto and they were like brothers.

No one but Sasuke was capable to tame and ride this horse. He found him when a greedy feudal lord from the _Grass_ abandoned it because of his capricious temper, wanting to kill him when he hurt his equally idiotic younger son for attempting to ride it and it took five of his underlings to wrap a lasso around his muscular neck barely keeping him in place as it continued to rear, neigh violently and jerk his head, also having an injured bleeding leg.

Sasuke freed the animal right on the spot as he just happened to be wandering through the area aiming to free a group of civilians from a nearby village that have been kidnapped by the feudal lord`s men and sold as slaves, being incredibly annoyed at the brutality and lack of tact and grace of those idiots, then took the horse for himself, tamed it and kept it by his side ever since and actually the capricious horse only acknowledged Sasuke as its master and only listened to his commands.

It didn't come as a shocker to anybody since Sasuke had an unusual power that no one else possessed, it being antagonistic but very reminiscent to Naruto`s; just as like that blonde dobe had the ability to befriend and tame the hearts of his enemies, Sasuke also knew how to soothe hearts possessed by darkness; probably because he himself was part of the same clique, but definitely had a more polished education, regal background, finesse and refinement than Naruto.

And that was the reason why Sakura was so drown into Sasuke. The horse`s crochets were similar to Sasuke's, but Sakura was also a mystique creature, a pure Priestess and an innocent woman —even the horse sensed her beauty and delicacy.

"You are so hesitant _Sakura._ We shall work more on your... _touching._ " Sasuke couldn't help but tease her again while never once removing his obsidian orbs from her, pulled by her magnetic beauty and serene innocence.

Something about her being genuinely _happy_ was… making his chest warm in undefined grace. Sasuke blinked once slowly to alleviate that emotion and subdued it as it crawled to the light barely having time to bloom and make him weaker for her than he already was.

The horse snorted through its nostrils and neighed twice with a strong resonance betraying immense power and cockiness, but Sasuke knew his temper all too well; that horse was actually amused by Sakura. Bluntly, he was _laughing_ at her clumsiness.

"Oh!" Startled as she thought that she did something wrong, Sakura tried to jerk back from the horse, but Sasuke`s fingers hastily tightened around her applying more pressure on her soft hand. "Sasu—"

"—here. Don't be afraid. He will not hurt you."

"A-Are you sure? I never approached horses before and yours is… frightening. Indescribably splendid but temperamental. What if I do something to annoy him?" It almost seemed like she was indirectly addressing to him rather than the horse, Sasuke noticed inwardly smirking.

"You will not." Nodding once to his assuring tone —something about his sensual baritone voice was so incredibly lenitive and comforting— Sakura started to rub the ebony mane of the horse noticing that Sasuke`s hold on her hand tightened.

"You are teasing me now aren't you?" She smiled to the horse that kept on looking at her from that imposing height and somehow, she started to feel the connection to the animal; a pained lonely soul who sought for understanding.

Sasuke fetched an eyebrow up at the girl asking himself the very same thing: was she talking to him, to the horse or both?

Once again when her fingertips smoothed along the horse`s hair, she giggled. She giggled in a way so angelic that Sasuke swore the entire clearing of the virgin forest illuminated when she started to giggle like a musical harp in heaven and even her eyes glowed din pure enrapture and joy.

All the warm of the sun bathed into those golden emerald eyes. And the horse was so docile in her presence that it even stunned Sasuke how she had the power to tame a demon. Her purity was undeniable even for an empty man like himself.

Slowly without her even noticing it, Sasuke slid his palm from under her —warm soft palm— as she run it through the horse's ebony mane without his assistance and actually the horse didn't sketch any gesture to betray that he didn't want her around him on the contrary. "Unbelievably he is so... beautiful. And soft, oh!"

Sakura whispered in pure glee getting used to the feeling of being in the vicinity of such a marvelous horse.

As her melodious laughter filled the forest with bell like suave sounds descending from a choir of angels in Heaven being absolutely amused, the horse did a gesture that stunned them both.

He gracefully bent his front leg and... bowed before her once? The fact that Sakura took a sharp step backwards expecting another reaction from the animal had her miss the entire expression on Sasuke`s figure; his obsidian orbs were slightly wide and his lips briefly parted not believing it himself at what has just happened.

"Oh! Sasuke, look!" The incredible Priestess placed her small hands like a tent upon her giggling lips orbs scintillating like million shimmering diamonds as she run her hand again though its hair and this time, she didn't shy away when the horse tapped her forearm with its nostrils in a gesture of affection.

That horse has _never_ did such a thing for anyone else but Sasuke and even those moments were extremely rare!

Instead of watching how the horse reacted in her presence, Sasuke glanced at this amazing woman in complete fascination —without him even being aware that she trapped him in her charm.

This woman was… she was so very—

"—You are so smart! And beautiful! And _elegant_!" Her voice was so docile and soothing as she conversed with the horse casually like she has known it for ages.

Sasuke kept silent simply watching her —breathing her in like he has met her for the very first time.

"Just like your mast—" Abruptly, she stopped herself just in time nipping her lower lip in embarrassment, as her pink hair fell on her face only revealing her timid smile upon realizing what she has just admitted.

Sasuke overcome his shook while trying his hardest not to fall prey to such a pathetic womanly charm as a pair of eyes carved in pure jade, shaking his head once then stared to her in a way that nearly had her gulp once as her small smile froze on her lips.

It was not that he was angry at her like she was thinking, but more like vexed on himself for being so weak and so stupid, but he couldn't help it.

As much as Uchiha were men who were dissimulating their emotions like true versatile actors, they also had a fine sense for aesthetics, details and exquisite beauty.

And thus, the very first thing that trapped his obsidian orbs in a spellbind was how much of a symbolic contrast her virgin pink hair stealing the shade of the cherry trees in full bloom to the raven shade of his horse

And unexplainably as a fugitive memory churned inside of him like a gust of wind, a sadness washed in waves of immeasurable pathos, but he accepted it nonetheless —she was his total opposite, like two parallel lines which will never intertwine.

Sakura belonged to the opposite world than him. She was the evergreen light of heaven, while he was the cursed child of the Devil, only having one single blessing to quench the eternal fires of Hell; the privilege to watch her from afar as she was bathed in light.

Pink can never mesh with black; never. This is why his lush lips curled upwards in a humorless smirk even if Sakura didn't notice it because his horse was having her undivided attention for now. She can never be with him, never belong to him, never be part of his word.

He can`t be what she needs, nor can he give her what she deserves.

Of course, Sasuke couldn't have had the knowledge about what Sakura thought of him nor did he realize just how much he was completing her and what type of incredible connectedness she felt to him courtesy to the warmth that his very presence and touch elicited.

Sasuke didn't know because Sakura was too innocent and novice in relationships and thus her repertoire of new sensations were all alien and foreign to her; nameless wonders that made her skin tremble and her heart to miss a beat.

And Uchiha himself was just as loss of what was connecting them. He didn't know that only a platonic affection that bounded two very close friends had to share similar traits and personalities, but never LOVERS.

That type of unhinged passion can never happen between two similar characters, because completing someone cannot come from one who already has what the other needs. The touted _other half_ must be someone capable to make her feel like no one ever.

Even the universe consisted in two opposite parts —yin and yang and so they were each other`s balance.

The beauty in their twisted and undesired meeting, the core of all those unexplainable passion and the details that brought them together when no one would ever imagine Sasuke and Sakura ever nurturing sentiments of genuine love was the fact that they were both honest, passionate and capable of fully giving themselves or putting their lives into the line to fight for what they treasured the most and the fact that neither had experience and thus got the chance to discover, touch and taste together and walking the same road without the other to walk in front leaving the other behind and feeling inferior and inept, it made the road to the cusp of adulthood spectacular and very meaningful.

Even the animal, the splendid horse, whose senses were primal and organic, unsoiled and uncorrupted by society, as it only understood senses to nature and simple commands without complex thinking, it sensed the connection between them and thus went docile.

"Did you teach that?" She tried to tease Sasuke with a coy smile but there was no glint of mischievousness in her emerald orbs so she came as very adorable and so _so_ much younger than she already was —if that was even possible. "Are you trying to be gallant?"

Snorting her while the playfulness in his obsidian orbs mirrored the hint of sin in his smirk, Sasuke teased. "With _you_? Tsk, as if."

Swiftly mounting on his horse in one fluid elastic leap on the back of the horse outstretching his unoccupied for her to take and addressing her in a very courteous voice that only a Crown Prince would use to his beloved betrothed, Sasuke baffled Sakura once again.

* * *

"Here." His eyes were so adroit in swindling her with his sleek words, with his mood swings, with… pretending to _care_ ; Sakura was not stupid, she understood his game. "So as you won't have a reason to berate me."

She understood it but it still hurt to know that his words were just a good pretend; a game for him to pass time.

"Thank you..." Smiling shyly as she tried her very best to vanquish that traitorous feeling that warmed her belly in response to how his biceps and pectorals tautened when he gently pulled her up at the motion, with such easiness as if she weighed nothing but a fur of a white dove and she slid on the saddle adjusting her long bare legs on either side of the horse while two muscular arms immediately encircled her from both sides holding the reins.

She turned around awkwardly looking at her dangling feet as she nearly blushed at how he indirectly embraced her.

Clearly understanding what the source of her distress and awkwardness was, Sasuke mentally held in his smirk realizing that her skin was trembling with cool shivers and it was not due to the cool weather outside, but the proximity of his hot bare chest pressed on her back, deciding to tease her anyhow.

"What… would you prefer walking there instead of riding? You still have to _lead_ the way though... or you possibly want the horse to _ride_ on your back?"

Naturally, she didn't catch the meaning of his emphasized slick words and that innocence that she was portraying while displaying such a natural erotica in her shenanigans as she peered at him from behind orbs bathed in emerald diamonds, sweet look in her eyes and a flimsy cloth sheathing her naiad form pulled Sasuke even more to her without him even noticing; his onyx eyes lingered on her form more and more and got more intense with each passing moment.

Her opaline skin glowed like a pearl on the bottom of the dark ocean, in contrast to the raven mane of his horse; a sight to be captured for eternity into a statue of a Roman Goddess.

She was so very pristine that the desire to corrupt her and stain her in shades ranging from white to black grew savage in Sasuke; of course, nothing about his deceiving striking beauty gave anything away and that seemingly composure made Sakura even more anxious shifting in the saddle as it applied pressure on… _very intimate_ parts between her spread legs, involuntarily causing a warm pool to froth within her hips, all enhanced by Sasuke`s presence, the look of deviousness in his incredible eyes and his sensual lips pressed in a serious firm but relaxed and alluring way.

She gulped twice; hard and audible.

"N-No no it`s not like I d-do _not_ appreciate the unexpected ride but..." Tentatively smoothing her fingertips between the horse`s ears, Sasuke was shocked to say at least that the animal seemed to genuinely like her as he was surprisingly tempered for such a rebellious horse. "…ehm... Sa-Sasuke…?"

A lush silence burned her ears because Sasuke continued to stare at her form with a desperate maniacal expression in her eyes, one so explicit as it was irresistible, blushing lightly as a sadness washed her over and, albeit Sasuke couldn't see the monologue churning inside her eyes, her profile refused to meet him, a subtle nuance of a virgin cherry blossom perusal spreading across her cheeks. "...last time we did this… you have… k-kidnapped me."

Oh— she was being melancholic as her words dripped with pathos and something else akin to regret and that made Sasuke slightly frown; he simply couldn't explain that tightness of his chest as her words ventured into simmering his heart from inside out at the prospect of her _resenting_ meeting him.

Because he knew that he should _not_ care albeit it was burning his mind in pure rage.

Refusing to display just how much was it annoying him, realizing that this woman was very emotional and delicate in addition to being very sensitive, and he didn't cope well with people who had a plethora of overflowing emotions that they couldn't control, in so much antithesis with his own conniption.

"You _are_ still a prisoner Sakura." Something about her shenanigans, about how she maneuvered those words tactfully to evoke feelings of guilt and care about someone —feelings that stopped trimming at his counscience after his brother died— made Sasuke approach her in such a coquettish way, but before he dweled into the matter, he was already acting without thinking.

Moist sateen lisps latched to the junction of her swan neck and shoulder as his T-Shirt slant messily low along her round shoulders, brushing over a soft spot that he discovered while he made love to her and she ticked uncontrollably, giggling and squirming as she jerked because of how sensitive her skin was and nearly sliding off the saddle, if not for his secure hold around her form. "Hehe— Sasuke stop— ah!"

"Well then..."

Heart still pounding like wings of a butterfly pelting against the warm spring air, Sakura resisted the need to giggle uncontrollably when Sasuke`s warm palms skimmed under her own as she kept her petite hands nervously onto her lap, holding her hands while guiding them around the reins as she enclosed her fists with his own around the rope.

" _You_ lead the way." Was this also making her feel like a hostage? Because even though she was his prisoner… at the same time she didn't feel like physically _trapped_ by him, but of course, she failed to realize that a prisoner was restrained both physically and _mentally_ and this was his game from the beginning; his sadistic twisted game.

Wait... _why_ the heck did he care?!

She turned her head over her shoulder and the look in her eyes answered to his question as Sasuke was inwardly chiding himself for his idiocy.

No master was treating his slaves with such hospitability generosity delicacy and... affection. What was _wrong_ with him?!

Even his blizzard horse liked this woman just like everyone else did —even his friends were gossiping abouth her albeit it was more snickered murmuring abouthis infatuation with the young Priestess.

It was almost like one could simply not hate Sakura no matter how avid their feelings were and how corrupted; she brought the best in everyone. Even in him.

Tracing the tongue over her lower lip wetting it as it looked red and lustrous and rich and tropical an exotic like a strawberry or the passion fruit`s syrupy pulp; he simply could not abstain from tasting it.

"Hn." Leaning forward he captured the delicious lower lip as it was round and full as half of a heart shape and she jolted up in surprise but she couldn't trash too much into his arms as he was keeping her glued into his chest; her digits around the rope tightened and her toes squirmed as her feet brushed over the raven mane of the horse and a keening sound broke into the back of her throat when Sasuke nipped and suckled on her lower lip but she didn't eschew from him, simply squeezing her orbs shut as he enthralled her completely.

Uchiha did it unconsciously, it was a mindless reflex, an inborn desire, he couldn't help what he did and it was nothing related to self-discipline.

His kiss was magnetizing and unrushed but thirsty and delicious as he suckled on her lips on _just_ an impulse; a kiss more bittersweet than the prospect of just soaking into the wetness of her shy tongue gliding over her own when he parted her lips with his own mouth filling her like sparkling wine poured into her searing cavern.

His mouth were putting a spell on her own, mesmerizing her mind as she reeled into that sensuality that his passion conjured. "Mnn..."

His lips trailed along the corner of her mouth sealing away her words, her any reticence, any shyness, any form of rejection that was slowly melting inside of her like chocolate and rainbows when his petals slid from her own when she started to respond to him gilding along her jaw, hastily planting wet butterfly pecks along her neck as she tilt her head on the side dipping her head down on his shoulder as he smooched her skin.

Eyes rolling into their sockets while her lids fell havened with lust and glazed by desire as they flittered shut as his lips planted chaste sloppy kisses along her shoulder and neck while Sakura nipped on her lower lip, squelched moans in delight filled in the charged air around as her skin trembled in pleasure; something warm and energetic like a swarm of bumble bees rose from her belly into her chest as Sakura coiled the reins around her fists so as to anchor on reality and lucidity but sanity was reeling into a hypnotic energy. "Sa-Sasuke—"

She wished so much to have the willpower to push him back, but she didn't; she was weak for him, weak in her knees, weak in her mind, weak on her skin, weak on her eyes and weak on her heart.

She wanted something from him that was a strong as it was nameless.

"—what are you waiting for Sakura," his lips curled upwards into an elfin smirk as his tongue laved the cord of her racing pulse and she shivered in pure bliss as smothered sighs traveled past her parted lips and she barely registered what his extremely low sensual voice murmured to her. " _Lead_ the way."

Amazingly how his mind seemed so clear albeit he was lightly panting for air, electrically charging her skin with hot shivers discharging along the column of her spine and making her limbs shiver in delight, orbs nearly flittering and rolling in the back of her head in response to him; Sasuke seemed almost like he was _faking_ it and this tore Sakura`s heart worse than any jutsu, any technique that she might have been a victim of.

"W-What was that for...?"

"Hm? What do you mean... you are my _prisoner_ ," He eluded her question and the silent sad implication dodging it skillfully, albeit Sasuke knew exactly what she was referring to. "I can do whatever I want, whatever I can think of, whatever I can and even _more_."

 _Oh Kami_ — the way he absolutely breathed those last words as they trembled beyond a shiver from his lips, words muffled by his mouth tapping along her jawline and she felt his warmth and the baritone resonance traveling along her skin, million magnetic electrifying jolts puncturing her skin as they surged along her spine.

His implication was coated in pure sin, dark and sensual dripping of passion and erotic desires but he couldn't be any hotter and irresistible than that.

Did he just admit that he was toying with her? Was she a simple divertissement, a marionette, a mindless puppet? Salty liquid drenched her orbs as it slid over the heavy thick veil of lust glistening around her irises but she was too lost into his smell, into his warmth, into his words to cry now.

Her heart did, however; inwardly.

"I just... I feel— _oh_?" Squeezing her thighs tight as those energies and the pressure that accumulated into her core sending waves of pleasure scalding and rippling along her lower abdomen and discharging between her nether lips, became unbearable and screamed to be quenched by something firm, lean, strong and very masculine and she could not believe that she was actually **craving** for Sasuke to pierce her _deep_ and deliciously until she arched against him like a siren writhing and undulating on the beach, under the moonlight`s silver rays.

"Hey watch it... damn Sakura!" As she did the involuntarily gesture of pressing her heels against the horse`s side applying a little bit too much pressure as the sensitive animal immediately sensed the distress in her ungraceful and inexperienced gesture, immediately responding by raising his front two legs up, rearing high in the air as a declaration of power and defiance, and, in a heartbeat, as swift as an arrow piercing through the night's veil, he dashed forward galloping at breakneck speed as if he wasn't touching the ground, sinking into the core of the forest, nearly making Sasuke and Sakura fall, but the Uchiha had plenty of experience.

Gnashing his teeth together as he clicked on his tongue fighting the glossy fog that veiled his orbs in pure lust, adjusting his vision and cursing softly under his breath, he gripped the reigns in a firm grip with his right hand while his left coiled around Sakura`s shoulders who in return, strengthened her own hold on the rope and leaned into his chest, burying her nose into his neck and letting out a sudden startled shriek. "Ahhh!"

Trying to hold back the capricious horse, the animal reared raising its two legs nearly jerking Sakura and Sasuke off its back as it snorted maniacally from its nostrils, the puff sending a blow into the cool night air and, since the quietude around was doubled by the echo of the thick forest soaked in limbs of darkness, it resonated as a sinister howl of an injured beast. "Sasu–"

"—relax... _Amaterasu_." Uchiha`s stern but gentle command tapped his horse almost instantly as he barely budged while keeping them both steady, with his left hand protectively wreathed around Sakura`s waist, his fluid moves blending with the wild ones of the temperamental horse, amazingly smooth like they were one single shadow.

* * *

Realizing that Sasuke was not talking to her while the horse did a comical brazen sound sounding painfully similar to Sasuke`s flouting _'tsk'_ clicking on his tongue when something was not upon his licking, Sakura turned hear head to look over her shoulder to Sasuke whose chin was on the same level with her cheek, grazing his smooth skin in a tickling manner; shivers rolled along her forearms while feeling his warm mint fanning over her neck, fetching a confused eyebrow up and putting comically while Sasuke mouthed the horse, tapping his heel on the horse`s side as the astounding specimen revved again, galloping like a mythological creature through the unknown, defying gravity.

His voice was satiny sleek and calm, incredibly tranquil showing no trace of him being ruffled or startled by the violent action of a dangerous horse; he remained incredibly and impossibly calm, calmer than any serene flow of a shiny river.

She knew it all too well that this amazing confidence was the reflection of how _strong_ he was by affording not to be perturbed by something like this.

"A-Amate-rasu?" She mumbled to the Uchiha as his onyx orbs were pinned in front of him, tucking her strawberry blonde locks off her face as the wind splashing against their silhouettes was draping her green garnet orbs and trying her very best not to let her orbs flicker to Sasuke`s denude chest as she was intimately spooned with her back against his sculpted physique. "Did you name your favorite horse by your most fearsome technique Amaterasu? Why?"

Somehow... as she realized that the ungainliness of her lack of horse experiences has nearly dropped them off the horse`s back, Sakura found it very comical. "Because when I first found him hurt and cornered fighting for his freedom, it reminded me of the never ceasing lacquerer flames of _Amaterasu_."

Okay…? Since when did Uchiha _Sasuke_ has encased such a poetic nature deep down inside? Sakura couldn't help but grin comically at him albeit he has never removed those stygian orbs from glancing forward but she couldn't help the frisky frolicsome fluttering in her chest; this man was such a puzzling contradiction, pretty much like his exquisite horse —elegant, beautiful but extremely petulant.

"So... you were the one to save him then? How noble of you." She whimsically teased him giggling musically while running her right hand on the horse`s thick rich mane, marveling at how sateen it felt under her palm; just like Sasuke`s ebony spikes when she got a full fist of them while he arched against her–

"—Aa. After I have _killed_ the four idiots who broke his left front leg and tried to tame him by threading a lasso around his neck."

Ok… unexpectedly, the word _noble_ lose its value in this context. " _Ehm._.. o-ok...?" Sakura finished weakly shaking her head slowly while trying to cease away the disappointment in her chest while thinking about Sasuke`s fickle conniption as it was so easy to forget who Sasuke really was –a rogue criminal– blaming herself for how he easily beckoned her to him making her overlook _that_ aspect.

"They were also part of a notorious band involved in robberies, illegal betting and kidnapped young maidens to enslave them for sexual pleasures or ship them to private islands, famous for their orgies and abuses."

Sasuke added, as filing it on Sakura`s sudden gloomy atmosphere that she would have rather not be reminded of his nonchalance in killing –just like he simply let those scattered dead bodies of their earlier attackers not even bothering to give them a proper funeral; he will send their corpses to Kabuto and Karin later on to dispose of their bodies, but knowing him, Kabuto will probably keep them for his own experiments as Uchiha will not allow him to use living bodies anymore.

"Oh? They were? Then... it`s good that someone stopped them and freed -ehm- _Amaterasu_?" The horse tossed his head once as his midnight luscious mane flared into the night hypnotically and snorted once at her almost like wanting to say _'stupid'_ and Sakura couldn't help but laugh at his antics; so _so_ very Sasuke.

Getting used to the incredible sensation of riding a splendid specimen like Amaterasu while Sasuke was expertly taming his temper while resonating to the horse`s high-strung temperament probably the two perfectly understanding each other –like owner like horse– Sakura allowed herself to relax and enjoy a rather romantic moment between Sasuke and her, despite the complicated bond that they shared; intricate but a _bond_ nonetheless.

She felt like a mythical creature eloping with a beautiful sinful demon, someone who was as unreachable and untouchable as it was also creased of vulnerability and emotion nested deep inside his heart, suppressing them and only letting glimpses of it show while in very passionate moments.

And the sensation was special, magical as it unfolded under the starry night sky with no curious eyes to perturb the **intimacy** between them.

Or maybe it was only _her_ the one to feel this way since Sasuke was unreadable and probably only toying with her, keeping her as a prisoner by binding her mentally _–_ and emotionally _–_ _to him._

Sakura will never know of what was churning within the casket of Sasuke's sophisticated mind, but she felt something _deep_ moving inside her; a tiffany emotion kindled like a white candle flickering in her chest and warming her insides pleasantly.

She couldn't quite depict the feeling into words but it was similar to basking under the warm sun rays at dawn on a scorching lazy August dawn; the same soothing sensation of a time that refused to pass as she remained forever trapped in that blissful dream, healing a tormented mind and scintillating like a ray of hope for _loneliness_.

Unbeknownst to her, Sasuke was experiencing similar feelings, but unlike her, he wasn't trying to dig for the core of them –since he _knew_ it all too well what type of emotion coursed through him– but instead, tried his best to suppress it and thus his laconic temper betrayed noting of what his heart`s painful agony; she was just like the essence of _air_ _,_ her dominant element.

Piercing through his every pore, filling his lungs of oxygen as the source of _life_ and vitality making his _heart_ pump faster and being as fundamental as it was elegant and powerful, Sakura was flimsy and diaphanous as air.

She was everything that he _breathed_ –the quintessential element as part of nature`s mystique _wonders_.

Sasuke couldn't lose to her, or lose _himself_ to him. His inner _demons_ emerging from the _darkness_ that filled his inner world was only a metaphor, a projection of his inner manifestation of the reprimanded Uchiha passion and need to express themselves, explore their inner potential and eventually give it a tangible _form_ as a result of those strong negative impulses, and the very avatar of it was his infamous technique, _Sussano'o._

Sakura had no idea of how much time has it passed since the lavish virgin forest has thickened as they went deeper into it by her guidance, but apart from Sasuke`s occasional brief inquiries _'which way'_ as Sakura half-heartedly led the way to the familiar route of her Shrine, the quietude between them was electric and charged with intimacy —draping them like a veil into the night— felt lenitive and blissful; beautiful.

Understanding that the horse wouldn't be able to gallop up the meandering many stairs made by clay mixed with sand and bamboo like the villagers did when coming to pray, Sakura led him to a secluded route through the forest as they started to encircle one of the rocky cliffs where the Temple was located; eventually, they ended up on a sinuous rocky paved alley ringed by dazzling _Sakura_ trees in full bloom, shining with a resplendent lucent a deep virgin shade of vibrant pink and colliding with the night sky.

The magnificent strong and imposing horse galloping elegantly along the alley with its rich raven and electric royal blue hues reflected into the night`s warm silvery lights contrasted with elegant pink of the flowers, the same shades projected into Sasuke and Sakura`s hair shade, created an illustrious picture worth of being painted.

The panorama of them surrounded by majestic ranges of mountains guarding them like an unconquerable fortress was so beautiful, so lyrical, reminiscent to a hymn of romance, evergreen _love_ transcending into mystique, legend and melting into the nature itself; even Sasuke observed it as he scanned the surrounding with much zeal as the unmistakable perfume of elegant flowers filled his nostrils; the same perfume that lingered on Sakura`s skin.

She truly belonged to this eternal ineffable circle of regeneration as the quintessence of creation, and being projected into the universe and to this picturesque landscape, Sasuke surmised.

Instantly, he was being washed by the feeling of relaxation typically after performing Meditation _Zen_ and becoming one in sync with nature and elements.

Inwardly, something trimmed at his conscience that it might have been something more than just a fugitive artistic creation of his unexplored poetic side, but Sasuke brushed it off when seeing how Sakura`s luscious lips curled into a smile upon reaching to her familiar places, deciding to amuse himself by mocking her.

"So this is your _little_ Piece of Heaven, _huh_? Pretty trifling if you were to ask me... no wonder that you look like someone who has just landed on Planet Earth from the _Moon…_ Sakura."

He might have been pointing to her naivety and lack of experience about the harshness of the real world, but those words hurt Sakura in ways that she could not describe; the feeling was similar to having her soul being torn from her carcass and it was agonizing.

"If you brought me here just to laugh into my face and remind me of how petty I am for being abducted and detained by you, then keep your chauvinistic insults to yourself Sasuke and do _not_ waste your words in vain for someone so _insignificant_ as this pathetic _ex_ Priestess."

She was falling for him head first and _hard;_ now Sasuke was not a sadist or a flirt but _damn_... toying with this woman`s feeling started to become his favorite leisure time hobby.

Something about how she was obviously struggling to understand the quintessence of her emotions was captivating, enigmatic, fascinating and very... feminine; pure womanhood was oozing in such a sophisticated sensuality that drove him insane.

Of course, his temper flared like a torch at how she spoke about herself, full of venom, irony and sarcasm since they both knew it all too well that she was nothing like those aforementioned pejorative adjectives.

"I would have never bothered to saunter all the way here just to mock you Sakura." Uchiha whispered into her ear while the horse fell into a lulling serene galloping, occasionally snorting capricious temper and displaying a divine elegance when passing the gardens creased by tiny rivers seeping into a crystalline pond and heading to the main entrance.

She shuddered visibly, sighing in surprise and secret pleasure. "And I do not even need _words_ to rile you up... or make you give in to _me._ "

"Mmnn— s-stop please—"

"—why? When we both know that you clearly revel into it _Sa~ku~ra_." Her name was hypnotic, so melodious and warm when he whispered it like that, forbidden and dark no him like an occult mantra; she hated but loved it at the same time.

"B-Because it... makes me lose balance. What if I fall down?" She tried to squirm out of his lips that grazed her shoulder, but instead, Sakura ended up giggling wholeheartedly; she was so sensitive that it aroused Sasuke even more.

"Then _I_ will catch you and prevent you to hit the ground." He declared simply, sounding protective and confident and caring; her heart warmed and melted she turned her head over her shoulder to gaze into his eyes, but seeing his hypnotic visage so close, so open, expressive, challenging, rebellious and sophisticated... it melted her like ice on spring turning her into tiny rivers of happiness.

He looked so beautiful, so tempting so... deliciously h _ot_! "You… would?"

"No. But I would like to see you trying to latch onto me just to save yourself from a very embarrassing fall."

"I knew it that you revel into ridiculing me." She would have delivered a dramatic speech if not for her childish pucker of her lower lip to him just like a kid who has not been given candies, making Sasuke wonder just how many faces did this woman possess? She drew him over the edge constantly.

* * *

Wordlessly, Sasuke gracefully leaped from the horse`s back outstretching his hand for Sakura as a silent chivalrous gesture and she curled her digits around his warm palm, being pervaded by the same familiar pleasant feel of protection from him, but another side of her, one that was latent and still unexplored, had the girl turn serious and contemplative as something clearly bothered her, and the short spanned _'thank you'_ murmured to him as she avoided his incessant curious gaze, passing by like a blur and padding to the main stairs climbing them one by one without making any ripple into the cool air, made Sasuke wonder about her constant mood swings.

Fine raven eyebrows creased into a light frown as Sasuke swirled on his heel after rubbing his palm along the horses` head, silently conveying him his message returning the same deep powerful stare, and hastily followed Sakura`s meandering diaphanous shadow, wondering about her sudden switch in attitude.

Briefly, he glanced to the sky finding dark angry clouds amassing in rich spirals into the azure as the weather on the mountains was capricious and constantly changing, realizing it that the humid air and the intensified gusts of the cold wind were all messengers to foreshadow an upcoming _storm_ ; they are trapped to spend the night there, in the security of Sakura`s Temple.

"Now that we are past the formalities," Shockingly, it was Sasuke the one to break the tensed awkward silence between them as he found himself surrounded by symbols and representations of deities with miniatures and breathtakingly beautiful exquisite details, sculpted in expensive wood and precious ruby and jade gemstones, while thin encrusted pure gold _leaves_ of tea covered two of the side walls entirely giving it an august and holy touch to the filigree sculpted ornamentations.

"tell me the secret of this place and what is that you guard, _Sakura_."

He purposely pinned her with a knowing gaze signalizing to this woman that he was no more in a whimsical mood; his serious striking features were colliding with everything around him as he was definitely _not_ belonging into a scared place. Uchiha was all _sin_ in the most sophisticated ravishing way.

There was a strange but overwhelming latent voice inside Sakura that has been stirred to life as she whirled her head around her shoulder to gaze into Sasuke`s onyx eyes, with a glance that dripped with fire, determination and defiance, all being traits that any Uchiha would perceive as arrogance and thus animosity —and eventually a declaration to _war._

She puzzled him with those shimmering firestorm eyes as her avant-garde exotic features burned the darkness around when she spoke in almost an offended harsh manner, words that came from a feminist revolt against a man who not only hurt and destroyed everything she held dearly, but was constantly _demanding_ something from her _ordering_ her around, trying to subdue her into obeying his commands, like she was just a paw, a tool, an object without feelings that he could use and dispose of at the content of his heart, without taking _her_ own feelings into account.

And this attitude of Sasuke created a rift between her _heart`s_ calling —for him— and her independent strong inner personality —the one that hid into the penumbra of her Priestess side.

"Whatever you plan on doing will never succeed because bitterness and hatred can`t ever be viable solution for anything, no matter how dark the roots of the problem is. And stop commanding me like I am in your arrogant _possession_ for no matter how many times you try to cage me with weird Jutsus Sasuke, I will never genuinely _belong_ to you. You do not _own_ me in the way you think you do!"

A form of a tempered shock has creased over Uchiha`s handsome features but he was quick in suppressing them replacing it with a studied stylized composure, but his eyes blazed like pits of a frothing volcano ready to burst.

"I am not using force to pave my way to fulfill my dreams, only when absolute necessary and for the others own benefit. But sometimes, blood is necessary to accomplish greater things and make **revolutions**. And the current system is _flawed_ , mediocre and obscure with too much implication in the same repetitive heavily traditional and indoctrinated feudal way of thinking. And for progress to happen —for _real_ revolution to happen— this old fashion ideologies have to end _now_."

Onyx orbs narrowed to slits resembling the gleam of a fine honed razor blade as he pinned her with a stare that pinned Sakura to the ground, but she refused to eschew from that stare and exude weakness. "And the embodiment of those preconceptions... is _you,_ Sakura. You and your sacrosanct image in the other people`s blind eyes."

She was well aware that his light steps were melting the distance between them while his heels pelted against the floor but she remained froze in place at his words.

He ignored her declaration of defiance and independence in lieu of downplaying her symbol again; naturally he would not share the same faith.

Sakura briefly wondered what was that Sasuke believed in; if he chose to believe in the existence of a transcendental universal Creator at all or any Deities residing beyond time and being blessed with immortality and infinite powers, or has he simply sold his beliefs, his heart and faith to the darkness?

"M-Me? _What_ … are you talking about?"

" _You_ are the symbol of this _old fashion system_ with all its limitations in reflecting about universal truth in general and the absurdity of finding the answers in nature and not in what a belief in Kami-sama tells you to take for granted. Like those blind villagers do by choosing to worship _you_ and calling _you_ for help in times of need instead of relying on their _own_ judgment and power. Same goes for the Leaf shinobi who are not capable of rationalizing and analyzing the current system in order to depict its shortcomings and prevent a history of blood to happen again. You safeguarding a tremendous secret here without sharing it with anyone in a form of not protection but _greediness_ and obsession for power and yet... you are accusing _me_ of using power in forms of violence and war to reach my goals. This is how limited _your_ way of thinking is and yet you are a spiritual leader to the Village. This is just so pathetic that is not even funny Sakura."

He was reducing her to _nothing_ with those eyes matching those cold and radical words. Indeed she did not understand what he was implying but she already knew that there was a philosophy that drove Sasuke to his goals.

His actions were not mere caprices or whims, not even his killings. Sasuke was not killing people randomly just for the pleasure of killing.

"And you Sasuke? You are trying to justify the murder of innocent people who died as heroes protecting the things that they behold the dearest through your words about higher ideals and ambitions!" Was this man plainly crazy, delusional or simply sociopath?

How could someone as astute and brilliant as Uchiha Sasuke try to find justification into his horrible actions when he personally killed the Third Hokage in cold blood and not to mention that he and his organization were of a notoriety soaked in blood as they ravaged villagers, robbed them and infused fear and panic into their hearts like trying to spread the kernel of _darkness_ into their hearts and minds and gave them all a taste of his own tortured existence.

She alone would gladly shoulder all of his darkness and wear the stigma of his hatred for her in lieu of his deliverance, of his enfranchisement from that cycle of hatred, but Sasuke was directing it to the others and thus his hatred became justification for his actions and that was something that Sakura could not relate to and nor did she want to.

In her heart however, she completely understood him.

But she couldn't for dear life begin to imagine just what type of impulses churned through Sasuke`s brain to make his lips tuck upwards into a sadistic full smirk upon hearing her words; his image however, seemed so wrong, distorted, wicked and demonic and the same insane ambition was present on his visage like the first time she has sensed him approaching the outskirts of the Leaf Village.

"You are so very convinced in the others` innocence almost like you are too _scared_ to learn that they might not be the pure saints that you make them be. Because discovering the _flaws_ in the ones that you love Sakura... is equivalent to discovering that the ethereal perfect world that _you_ live in currently is nothing but an bittersweet _illusion_."

His smirk was cruel and his words pierced deep into her conscience; something horrible ached into the pits of her chest as the back of her knees wobbled and shook but she refused to let the panic of having the world crumble around her virtually exude on the exterior and give Uchiha the satisfaction to see that he was _right._

That formidable power of the Uchiha clan and their cursed ability`s quintessence did not reside in their affinity for Taijutsu, Genjutsu or Ninjutsu, but the unparalleled unique power to penetrate a mind and unravel it of all the secrets then use the mind`s own flaws, fears and limitations as weapons against them, without the other person to even realize that they were being manipulated.

 _You can see into my soul…_

Adding it to their sparkling intellect and cunning personality, it resulted in a lethal combination that no one could match or even get close to.

"You are trying to manipulate me, but your actions have no justification Sasuke and now you are here with all your demons pounding at the gates of Heaven and trying to force your way inside and taint everything, but _I_ will not allow it, not as long as there is still so much that I can do to defend it!"

The sparkle in her garnet orbs shone with determination and Sasuke understood where the core of her drive was residing, but she was so very naive and her naivety was laughable and pathetic.

" _Manipulate_ you? No Sakura, I am _not_ trying to influence you in any way because you are already the enemy of your own naiveté, so I will naturally not waste my energy into beguiling you. On the contrary Sakura, I am here to enlighten you and whether you like it or not, deep down inside, you know that I am right."

"You are crazy to think that I will ever acknowledge _violence_ used as a tool to get your hands on _power_ —"

"—what if I told you that the ones you think as being innocent are also having their hands stained with innocent blood?!"

"No... s-stop tha—"

"—that they have orchestrated the goriest massacres in the history of the Leaf which resulted into the homicide of countless innocent civilains, women, mothers and children without making any difference between shinobi, traitors or civilians?"

"Y-You are lying—" There were burning tears shimmering under her eyelashes as she tried to quench that pain raising into her throat as a painful lump, not because she was not familiar with the ways of a ninja, but because she has seen the epitome of all that _pain_ that he was evoking in his cruel words reflecting into his onyx eyes.

She has seen the reflection of _darkness_ and _pure hatred_ as a result of a once _lost love_ for something that once met the world to him, gleaming into those empty eyes —those beautiful black _empty_ tormented eyes.

"—and imagine their ambitions going as far as to bring shinobi from the same clans having to fight each other or chose between duty and ancestry, for the sake of their ambitions? Friends against friends... comrades versus comrades..."

A lean digit slid under Sakura`s jaw as her lower lip was quivering like a trembling lotus sending tremors along the still water as her feelings reflected in her mirror emerald eyes flinching under his touch when he curled his digits around her chin forcing her head up to meet his gaze; onyx burning into those green jewels.

"...and brother against _brother_." Those words were overflowing with torment and smothered sadness that it coursed through Sakura like an electrical jolt; the grim depressing feeling washed her over like she has seen the words nightmare coming to live.

It was impossible to put into word but the shimmering tears that slid from her glazed eyes along her cheeks were evidence enough that she capture Sasuke`s emotions perfectly; it was more than her or anyone else could take.

Sakura realized that she will never ever be able to start imagining the pain in that Uchiha`s heart. Probably no one alive could.

It was amazing that he hasn't lost his mind or committed suicide yet. Of course that his last statement was sophistic and laconic and she will never understand if Sasuke was not telling her the truth, but he wasn't here to share his tragic background story but to find out her secret.

"You are a _Priestess_ Sakura," Sasuke started again after what seemed like an eternity comprised in the span of five minutes of both staring deeply into the abysses of each other's orbs, while the only perceptible sound was the one of Sakura`s frenetic heartbeat and the rain pelting against the rooftop in a heavy shower and drumming against the front stairs and alley, mirroring the drama transpiring between the paper walls on the inside. "you can feel it too, don`t you?"

 _His feelings… his heart._

She could do nothing but smother a sob as her tears threatened to fall heavier, somehow crying for him in front of the statues of the deities carved in sandalwood and embellished with beautiful expensive ornamentations made of precious gemstones, painted into the colors of spring and the vanilla and ylang-ylang aroma of the incense lingering around the cool room.

And albeit her lustrous orbs saw it in slow motion as Sasuke`s face inched closer to her own, she did nothing but let her heavy lids drape her orbs as they pressed against the pool of fresh tears unlocking them from her orbs while his _lips_ embraced her own.

Their mouths losing their taste in a faithful ardent dance, stroking each other slowly, gingerly as the touch lingered like ripples of sateen against velvet was pure magic.

Whatever figments Sasuke wished to unroll from his silent lips, now conveyed in such actuation epistles.

His lips were soft and warm —so incredibly warm— and sateen silk and lavish, sensual and very masculine as they stroke her own and Sakura could do nothing but respond to him; never push him back albeit she knew that it was the right thing to do —try to stop him.

She didn't break away and deny his kiss because it had a meaning behind. Sasuke was not a man to deliver emotional speeches.

His strong points didn't include oratory albeit he could be very smooth and eloquent with words especially when he meant to manipulate.

Sasuke was an action oriented man. The passion sizzling into his Uchiha blood was far too ardent and poetic to be conveyed into words; no one could tame that fire into words, so naturally his gestures, his actions, his expressive body language were the perfect channel to focus all of those suppressed feelings to.

That kiss was so different and not only it was drowning her as his lips were massaging her own, cupping her mouth like savoring a pulpy peach and seeping its honey juices with pleasure, but his closeness and the incredible sensation of returning _home_ was making her cup his jaw with her right palm and move in sync with him.

There was a slick tongue rolling upon her upper lip then flicking around the corner soft her heart shaped lips slowly glissading inside as Sasuke suckled her bottom lips sensually, making a soft moan mixed with a guttural sob ripple along her throat, the sensation flittering and electric.

Her quivering fingers treaded into his sabon locks as they coiled around her fingertips and spilled against her knuckles in rich velvet cascades of ebony, and she pressed herself closer to the Uchiha while their tongues met into her mouth in tantalizing strokes.

Sakura let Sasuke kiss her with passion and pleasure while her tears burned along her hot rose tinged cheeks, mingling with the fire that his kiss enkindled; instead of the salty liquid to quench the fire burning inside of her, they were gasoline on fire.

His denuded sculpted chest rippled with supple muscles pressing against her petite from while his right hand curled possessively around her waist and crushed her into his chest.

Sasuke`s other hand remained on his side while his tongue glided in wet trails of fire and rich Pinot noir wine along her lips and twirling around her own tongue, tasting every corner of her cavern in a deep erotic wet French kiss.

Fire and dark chocolate seeped from his lips along with the warm saliva mixing in her own everytime Sasuke glided his tongue upon her own muscle then brushing over her parted lips.

Her chest heaved painfully burning for oxygen but Sakura couldn't back away from him; here, into the temple that she has grown in... the only place where she currently genuinely felt like _home_ was in Sasuke`s arms.

This can`t be... no. More tears trembled at the corner of her eyes when Sakura realized that she was dancing on his music, step by stem obediently and she had no will-power to stop him; not in her mind and not in her body or heart. She gave herself entirely to Sasuke on her own accord.

His kiss was amazing, so dazzling, so delicious, so indescribable. It was emotion, fascination, music and lyrics, passion and pain combined in a maddening cocktail.

Suddenly Sakura felt so small in comparison to him, so frail and frail but at the same time, protected, needed, desired.

The feeling of _belonging_ to him like this was pure euphoria. Sasuke's words were calloused and his eyes were cold, pained and unfathomable, but his actions were so very different —more genuine and explicit and definitely _deeper_ in meaning.

Like a glimpse into the _real_ self of Uchiha Sasuke, the one that he hid from the world and maybe from himself too.

If this was his game, then he was the cruelest demon for dressing himself like the finest angel.

* * *

"Sas-Sasuke..." Her gasps trembled as her voice came no louder than the whisper of a wind breeze when she pressed her hands upon his sculpted bare chest to break the lip lock, all her reason trying to return to her as she was coming down from the high of Sasuke`s kiss.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Sakura referred not only to physical captivity bur spiritual and mental as breaths mingled together in calescent sparkles.

"I don't mean to hurt neither you nor the Leaf, despite my actions seemingly speaking something else. Tell me the truth Sakura. It will help you lessen the unjustified burden that you shoulder. Tell me the secret that you have safeguarded for such a long time. It`s the best option that you have now."

"You are truly trying to coquette me, beguile me into giving up to temptation and then trying to fructify the information that you earn in return from my downfall, to accomplish your nefarious goals. You are the finest liar; your words are sleek and smooth, practiced and sophistic and sophisticated but nothing more then a _lie_." Why was this woman making it do complicated for him?

Words which pelted against his core fell like a rainstorm trimming into the sand, hard, cruel and killing him slowly in the most bittersweet torturous manner, but of course, Uchiha played it flawlessly cool.

"I assure you that I am not lying to you when it comes to the Leaf Village's safety. Just like you, I want to protect it... in my own revolutionary way."

She nearly seethed and orbs blazed and flared with unseen zeal as she argued in a tone seeping with pathos and mistrust nearly shouting in his face, her voice trembling like the strings of a harp. "What does **revolution** mean to you?! I don't understand!"

Taking two defensive steps backwards, Sakura shuffled her sad orbs to the floor as she protectively folded her hands against the two folds of the sateen kimono that she embellished her form with, in seemingly protective manner like hindering his penetrating hypnotic glance to pervade her chest and steal her soul or sneak in places that she shall keep enclosed; her heart, but she feared that the juicy taste for such freedom has been long denied to her from the moment when Sasuke forcibly wrote his name inside and refused to erase it. "I cannot trust something that I don't comprehend."

Uchiha pondered his options carefully for Sasuke was not the one to dive head first into a counterproductive argument that wouldn't benefit to his own ideals, so he narrowed his stygian orbs as he tried to depict any smidgen of an ulterior motive that she might have had in confronting him about his plans or she was simply founding herself surrounding by enemies that were pressuring her into giving up and join a party that was the enemy of her own principles, interfering with her role as a Priestess.

Nonetheless, he decided that Naruto has always been _right_ in his frisky proclamation that mutual trust which would automatically lead to peace and bonds between the shinobi as the bridge between the respect and understanding of each other`s pain and needs, honesty was just as a fine valuable treasure as actively providing help.

So in order to make Sakura basket into that natural sense of protection and security that any person would crave for, he blinked once and enlighten her.

"It means that I want to change the current corrupt system that has led to numerous unnecessary bloody subsidiary fights for power as a result of discrimination and segregation of concepts that should have united the shinobi and not divide them, like the previous system did. So, in order to achieve that, we need new strategic thinkers to foreshadow such events, learn from the past mistakes of their ancestors and make sure that it will never happen again in the future."

Images of the Uchiha coup d'état, the Massacre, Itachi's role, Shisui`s noble sacrifice latched to the image he had in order to convey them to such words.

"And for that... was it necessary for so many people and the Hokage to _die_ like they were worth nothing but a pile of ashes from the burnt leaves? Since when is _crime_ the answers to acquire peace?"

His inconsistency and incoherence was puzzling her as she realized that Sasuke might be an even more prodigious manipulator that she credited him for; after all, he was Uchiha Madara's ancestor and thus he Uchiha`s long tradition of smart scheming and plotting over the decades met its pinnacle in the blood of this one last remaining heir`s veins.

"They died in a ninja confrontation which does not make their deaths _worthless_ , Sakura. This is what you and the rest of your narrow-minded brainwashed supporters fail to understand."

He had no idea of why was it so mandatory for her to understand his motives and seek for acceptance.

Maybe deep inside his soul, as a _sinner_ waiting for his trial trapped into the flames of the purgatory, Sasuke did associated Sakura with the image of holiness, of a priestess, so he was trying to repent, because when Kami-sama gave up on his, then he would truly be estranged from all the grace. Maybe it was forgiveness that he sought from her, but he wouldn't try to submerge into something like that.

"One day Sakura... I am going to disclose you my truth, but not now. There is no time for this. The enemy can strike at any time so the less time we lose, then the faster we can come up with a counterstrategy and not let them get close to this place."

"Who are _they_ Sasuke, what are you referring to? You speak so cryptically like wanting me to believe that an army is going to attack the Leaf and yet... I don't understand a thing! But first of all... I don`t understand what are _you_ thinking about!"

Sakura nearly shouted in Sasuke`s impassive face while his well-aimed kiss did nothing to soothe the havoc and confusion in her mind.

One kiss from Sasuke was _not_ enough to counteract and demolish her solid pacifist principles and nor will she allow him to brainwash her or convince her that his actions had a greater motive; she was still a Priestess to the bones and the philosophical concept did not include her physical purity —that she has lost— but her pristine _spirit_ and her free _mind_.

She will not agree to Sasuke`s overview as long as he used his katana to bring justice instead of trying to negotiate; but then again, she couldn't understand him since she has not witnessed his entire family being antagonized, discriminated, despised and threated with caution like suspects and criminals and even spied like a dangerous group albeit they had really faithful skilled shinobi who believed in the unity and peace that a Village embodied, embracing their dogmas and even choosing to fight against their own brethren; Sakura didn't know about _Itachi_ so how could she relate to him?

How could she understand if he didn't _tell_ her? Sakura had unknown origins but at the same time, the pain of being alienated and having her roots cut and no connections to anyone or any place has been nullified by locking away her past memories; she was being brainwashed and narcotized and thus the prospect of her turning like _him_ one day has been —apparently— also nullified.

But Sasuke knew better. The fools who did this to her were naive into thinking that secrets could be taking into graves now that dead people were more vocal than ever.

Sasuke knew that Kabuto and Orochimaru studied and even upgraded the Second Hokage Senju Tobirama`s resurrection technique.

And that made him mentally smirk. _Fools_... and Sakura was an even bigger fool for not being disquisitive about everything around her; she was just taking the word of her deities for granted without judging for herself.

Sasuke deduced that the Leaf villagers —and some of the shinobi— were being brainwashed in the same way like Sakura and that nonsense had to _stop._

People shall all be free to make their own destinies, think for themselves and ration and the Hokage and its Advisors must ensure their safety and well-being and handle the political, social and economic problems, as well as the relationships between the Leaf and other villages.

He and his group had a lot of work to do considering the old fashion inefficient system unable to correspond to the upcoming problems of the new generation; one that Sakura was part of but at the same time, she acted like she was placed out of time, living in her own phantasmagoric bubble of apparently safety, but she was _so_ wrong!

She was _so_ very naive and mistaking and Sasuke will prove it to her albeit he had no idea of why was it so important for her to _acknowledge_ his way of thinking rather than just _cooperate_ with him.

He completely eliminated the prospect of _forcing_ her into complying with his request —it including _torturing_ her for information.

And that annoyed Sasuke to no end; the fact that he _cared_ when he was fighting with all his might to burke such pathetic useless attachment to her.

But he could not help it, it was instinctual. He was attracted to her in ways that he could not define. And that made her the most _annoying_ person in the universe.

"I don't want to be used!" Sakura`s stifled strangled voice overflowing with obvious hurt and shame sizzling in her eyes made Sasuke snap back into reality.

Frowning at her implication about him, he nearly sneered at this woman who was not getting his words.

Sakura was so intelligent but at the same time, she was so dumb and childish and unpolished and not only in _bed_.

 _Oh Kami_ — he couldn't believe that he was thinking about _doing_ her of all the times, she must be drugging him somehow—

"—And neither do I want to abuse a woman or humiliate her. Why do you always see me as a monster? A savage beast?" He too had _feelings_ and morals, albeit Sasuke was successfully and artfully subduing them.

He was an Uchiha above everything else; even above their penchant for dominance, they were noble by blood and thus elegance came in top it all, it including respecting women.

Men were another story, they were rivals, competitors, enemies and thus he had no problem soaking his hands into their blood to accomplish his goals.

But apparently the fire in Sakura`s orbs shimmering with every thunder bolt that roared in the vicinity of the temple begged to differ and not acquiesce and acknowledge his feelings.

"You are using me to get information about something as gruesome and abhorrent as raw power for you to reach your selfish goa—"

"—you`re wrong again." He cut her short approaching her with smooth steps pelting against the tatami floor until he backed her up against one of the bamboo paper wall again but he kept safe distance because he could not see distress on this woman and Sasuke didn't like the vibe she got —the one of a cornered woman being scared of him like he wanted to rape her or abuse her.

"If I merely wanted to dry you of information then using my _Sharingan_ would have been less of a burden to me." Her orbs widened in understanding, realizing that he indeed didn't do that.

Why doesn't she get it already? It was already bad enough that he has willingly indulged into the captivation and temptation that her purity possessed once, arguing with her and explaining himself when in reality he was a man of few words.

He didn't need to sleep with her to get information, that was already outrageous and cowardly in his furious mind and no respectable man —shinobi or not— would seduce a woman for information; especially an _Uchiha_.

Somehow, sensing in his shifting aura that Sasuke was deeply offended by what she implied about his questionable insidious temper and manners, Sakura her emerald orbs flicker somewhere behind his shoulder landing on a garland made of spring flowers bedecking the small altar fighting the urge to shiver because of his proximity and his intense gaze on her face.

Those obsidian orbs burned into her own, beguiling her to look his way, _demanding_ to be obeyed.

But Sakura was not his _possession_ and thus never take orders from _him_ as much as he pretended or act like she was his prisoner.

Tucking a coral lock around her ear, Sakura opted for another approach to corner this man and unveil his intentions.

"Maybe you did that so to gain my _trust_." If he was shocked to witness this inner side of her as she provoked him with her words, Sasuke was good to conceal it flawlessly by having the same unfathomable look on his face.

Not even blinking so as not to disrupt that statuesque facade of a perfect emotionless cold evil genius, he spoke smoothly, sensually but _colder_ than the humid air outside.

"That is not something that can _not_ fall under my _genjutsu_. I don`t have to get _that_ far with you for information Sakura.

"Only a man without poise would try to s-seduce me and then humiliate me by implying that I am not even worthy of your _oh_ — so precious _attention_ enough for you to actually _try_ and find out what is trimming on that twisted mind of yours Sasuke!"

Swiftly without her even see the momentum of his fluid touch, Sasuke cupped her chin between his digits pressing his thumb just under her lower lip —why did that rough gesture sent pleasurable shivers along her chest and tummy— but Sakura merely flinch, only gasped silently not actually knowing beforehand where his thumb will land.

"We slept together voluntarily." Why was the lingering question _did you really_ still playing in Sakura`s head while her breath stopped midway her lungs as Sasuke`s eyes suddenly shone brighter than the lightning blitzing of the storm, being portrayed as two sapphire diamonds melting into the flames of a torch.

This man was insulted and did nothing to conceal it from her. "Don't even try to deny or find a way out so that to stay on the safe zone. You stepped with me along on the path to decay, holding my hand and not being forced to do so, because you were willing and more importantly... wanted it to happen with _me_. Begged for it, desperately  needed it because you have been deprived by such pleasure, such relief, such privilege for so long. So don't imply that I have mentally _forced_ you into having sex with me just to get something in return because we both know it as the sky is blue that this is just a flat out _lie_ that not even Kiba`s dog Akamaru would buy."

"Let me go Sasuke." Wrapping her right hand around Sasuke`s writ pressing onto the bones with enough force to even surprise the Uchiha, Sakura prayed his hand off from her face as his touch made her lose common sense blinding her judgment, keeping their hands between them more like a shield than something intimate when she reciprocated that heated stare, albeit Sakura`s lacked _revolt_ hatred and darkness.

"If even for a second you coquetted with the idea that I will obediently expose you my secrets that I swore to protect with my very life, to you who is an _enemy_ with questionable mental sanity that cannot be trusted, then Sasuke— you are gravely _underestimating_ my faith."

Not that Sasuke did not appreciate women who were headstrong and independent, but for the love of all the God, she was being difficult and capricious in moments that she should not be!

Akatsuki could strike any moment by now and they were wasting precious time in arguing like a married couple, for Kami`s sake!

This is why Sasuke abhorred the idea of carrying out a normal conversation with someone; because those polarized overviews always led to divergences that they couldn't sort out especially when someone was clearly not seeing the things clearly —Sakura in this case.

Of course that Sasuke appreciated and admired her determination. Only an easy woman with a whorish personality and no backbone or dignity or personality whatsoever would be subdued by his flirts and follow his orders obediently without ruminating about his words and the possible outcomes of her actions, following his every command like she was eating from his palm, but he already made it clear that his intentions were not to harm the village, albeit his words lacked credibility because of his excessive savage demeanor.

The fever burning inside his body making his bones clatter and his muscles melt and ache enkindled a latent flame inside him blazing back to life because of her presence.

Seeing Sakura in her own environment with such an incredible and unforeseen sudden intimacy as they were encapsulated in the thin walls of the temple with only raw nature surrounding them and a heavy storm keeping them confined inside for Kami knows how long, made feelings simmer inside of him, ones that he was hardly quelling.

* * *

"Sakura," Tracing his tongue over his lower lip, Sasuke blinked once seemingly collecting his scattered thoughts from whatever fields they were scattered and wandering, turning deadly serious.

His voice enough resonated like the one of an Emperor inflicting bravely and passion into his soldiers` fragile hearts, eliminating any dubiety and fear, solemn, velvet and dominant, but still composed. "I propose a truce. A mutual agreement."

An aureate gleam coursed through those scintillating jadeite irises of Sakura as her orbs went slightly wide, gasping lightly at his words.

Sasuke Uchiha was proposing a _compromise_ instead of using _brute force_ or manipulation to beguile her. This left Sakura stunned till depths and her orbs mirrored her astounded feelings.

"W-What— truce...? What do you mean by that Sasuke?"

"In exchange for _your_ truth regarding the treasures secluded in the depths of this place... I offer you one of _my_ deepest ones."

Speechless as her heart`s tempo stopped altogether anticipating the upcoming pounding as she held in her breath waiting for him to explain, Sakura watched as Sasuke sighed silently so as not believing it himself what type of words were unrolling from his lips, he trailed. "I will tell you the truth about the assassination of my clan."

This time, Sakura truly and unceremoniously let her jaw hit the floor with a loud thud in perfect sync with a thunder bolt hitting close to the shrine startling her as she jolted unconsciously tightening her hold on Sasuke's wrist nearly making the bone crack but he didn't flinch only stared into the pools of her orbs as disbelief and confusion sizzled inside; waiting in perfect characteristic quietude for her to say something, reason, accept, reject.

He truly hoped that she could see the sincerity in his heart like this. Sasuke has never been eager to express his feeling sand honestly he lacked experience in this field, so he truly hope that she could understand the tremendous compromise that he was willing to make; for a reason unknown to him.

He was completely acting so _out of his character_ and he was aware, but he had no choice. A Priestess was not an ordinary person, especially if she was a woman whose intuition was naturally higher and more versatile and keen.

Unconsciously, Sasuke made that promise for two reasons: one was that he granted her a privilege that only a handful had —he absolutely trusted her to grace her with something so delicate and buried into the casket of his heart and mind and secondly... he wanted to get that burden off his shoulders and what better way to liberate himself for the ghosts of the past that still lingered in a very temperate form latching to his mind than confessing to someone so pure, who was like the embodiment of an angel? It felt just as alleviating and inspiriting as a _prayer_.

Maybe that was the kernel of those indescribable feelings of overflowing warmth and beatitude in her arms, in her presence, when he hold her dearly, when he gazed into those eyes —the solar ring burning around her emerald irises— when he kissed her moist virgin lips; it was the most incredible feeling of mental and spiritual sensation of evergreen _peace and happiness_ that only reaching the highest sublime peaks of mental and spiritual cleansing and soar of his soul, becoming one with the universe; falling in sync with its rhythm and experiencing Paradise.

In her... _with_ her.

"...the t-truth about your... are you serious? Sasuke... can I confide in you?"

"Yes."

She nodded eagerly then blinded and seduced by his honesty. "I do not have much information about it myself but what I know is enough for me to deduce that the secret I behold is crucial and not to fall into wrong hands Sasuke... if you chose to betray me then know that it will endanger the entire shinobi world."

"I am aware of it of course." His slight frown etched on his impassive face was enough to let Sakura know that the Uchiha felt insulted by her mistrust but then again, the suspicion and blame always linger like a virtual guillotine above the Uchiha clans heads; they were always subject of mischief and suspicion in the village and that fueled and kindled the flame of hatred and revolt in their hearts.

But Sasuke was intelligent and mature enough to be capable to shoulder something like this; she could trust him to dissociate his ambitions from a graver thing and thus understand that sometimes one must know when to take a step back in the game for power.

"Then follow me."

He nodded as she gulped once now realizing just how close they were, chest touching and warmth fanning from their breaths as she kept on holding on his hand; a natural feeling of his warm pristine skin and she kind of... didn't want to let him go.

And he knew that mentally smirking as it mirrored in his onyx eyes; Sakura came to realize that albeit he was unflappable and stoic and impossible to read, his inner feelings were amassing in his eyes.

The standoffish and cold empty obsidian pools turned richer and warmer in shade, flaming like melting sapphire diamonds into the flicker of a candle. Beautiful and expressive.

 _Captivating and sensual and very erotic._

* * *

"Lead the way Sakura." He had no idea how spiritual and poetic that sounded like asking her to lead him to the _light_ with soothing words and free his heart from the darkness that he was wading in.

And he failed to see her smile as she passed him by brushing over his shoulder and padding to a tatami at the end of a hall after taking few turns and his obsidian orbs scanned the area memorizing the pattern and the map; that temple was beautiful decorated in a Feng Shui tradition and somehow his negative feelings miraculously dissipated in that lenitive spiritual place.

It had a good karma and a pleasant fragrance of floral incense, Sasuke deduced. Albeit he was a savage passionate shinobi, Sasuke was pretty sensitive to such details.

No one would give him credit for his sense for arts, aesthetics and sophistication if he didn't know him well enough to know.

Few turns through the maze of narrowed eerie halls of the shrine as their shadows rippled along the dimly illuminated filigree walls has led Sasuke and Sakura to what seemed like a dead end, only when she tapped her heel lightly three times onto one of the five tatami that paved the floor, a secret trap slid without any sounds revealing a dark mouth carved under the carpeted floor, clearly leading to a secret underground passageway.

"Be careful, the stairs are slippery." Her voice was distant and strained like she was preventing herself from shouting it out loud that showing him this was something against her own free will, but she said nothing to him expecting Uchiha to understand it; and he did.

Only nodding to her descending back out of reflex since she couldn't see him, Sasuke followed the flittering of her long luxurious kimono sliding along the stairs and carefully and mindful of his steps, he proceeded after her sinking into the pitch obscurity, having the sensation of heading to visit the realm of Hades in the Underworld.

Surprisingly, when Sasuke stepped on the last stair arriving to the base of that spiral staircase, he noticed that the walls were bedecked with small flickering red and bright green candles creating a halo of a magic light as it reflected into the side walls of solid rock shimmering with what looked like dust of encrusted gold particles and tiny precious gemstones, but he couldn't be sure.

Despite of it being of a breathtaking beauty veiled in all that mysterious oriental aura, Sasuke observed that underneath all that captivating scenery, it was meant to deceive, to captivate and hypnotize and determine the one to turn on his heel and get away from that forbidden place; they did not instead, Uchiha followed the Priestess all the way through that short passage until they arrived before a simple door carved in rock and fine sand, stopping briefly.

Sakura opened up the door in absolute silence with her palm pressed firmly on a certain spot on the rock that Sasuke sensed it contained a smidgen of chakra infused into what was probably a seal to lock the door.

What was hindered on the other side of the door was a large crevice carved into solid rock underground and immediately Sasuke`s vision narrowed the design of the impressive room upon seeing the two painfully familiar deities statues oriented on two of the corners and facing them, looking like guarding something of an inestimable value.

"These two statues..." Striding behind Sakura as he came to stand beside her, immediately the wheels in his savvy brain revved zealously. "...they are reminiscent to the ones in front of the _Naka no Jinja_ Shrine. My clan`s holy Gods. Why are they in _here_?" Similar, except they were facing the other side than they normally did on the Uchiha District.

Sakura shrugged with nonchalance shaking her head at him and immediately onyx orbs sought for any sort of deceiving in her body language, founding none.

"I am not certain of this myself, but I know that they are linked to the origins of what is nested behind this door. However, I don't think that anyone knows the precise information about its ancestry, roots or purpose. We all know that it shouldn't fall on wrong hands."

"So what are the _right_ hands entitled to detain it then? You are obviously just an insignificant pawn, a mere guardian. The Leaf's higher ups maybe? Danzo Shimura? Sarutobi Hiruzen?"

"Tsunade-shishou said that it belongs to the entire world on the word of the first Hokage Senju Hashirama and thus we shall all compromise and never use it if we want to maintain peace into the world."

"I have never heard of something like this. So the first Hokage knew about its existence?" No wonder that Orochimaru and Kabuto who kept a close eye on their tracks of the lost clans` treasures didn't miss it. "There must be another secret behind."

Obsidian orbs followed the trail of pure emerald diamonds set on the humongous boulder that served as door to possibly another similar to that room as Sakura turned to face Sasuke, hands hidden into the sleeves of her kimono. She looked just like a Priestess clad like that, beautiful, serene, a guardian, sighing softly. "I know of no such secret Sasuke. This is all I know."

"You don't even know of your _own_ ancestry let alone something of such importance, _tsk_." Sasuke half mocked and half revealed his confusion at the fallacious game that the Leaf was playing, going as far as to make prisoners from young naïve _–and probably brainwashed– maidens into preserving the secret to something even_ _larger_ _and worthier than Sakura`s life; and using a human being like this for the heck of the_ _system_ _inflamed and chaffed Sasuke beyond belief, his angular strong jaw tautening as he nearly gnashed his teeth together._

Then his orbs softened when she turned mellow and her orbs filed with sadness, sighing. "I know that you are telling me the truth Sakura."

That seemed to put her in a better mood; the weird girl needed HIS confirmation and acceptance. Ignoring the frisky feeling in his chest to wrap her in his embrace he came beside her in front of the door.

"What is behind this boulder?" Gently and deliberately Sasuke felt the cold sharply cut stone with his fingertips, studying, observing everything with the same lucid and calculated collectedness as always; boulders of cut sharp stone honed finely into a door as soft sand sprinkled onto his knuckles.

"That... is the room where the _treasure_ of the Leaf Village is located." His orbs widened gleaming dangerously looking her sideways.

"What you guard... is _behind_ this boulder?" She nodded with a sad guilt expression; he knew that she was acting sinful and it was trimming at her brain but he couldn't let the chance slip turning around in paranoia as scanning his surroundings he bad her gently but sternly. "Open it then."

She shook her head in denial, remaining motionless. "I can't. I don't have such a power."

His obsidian orbs widened before narrowing into slits and he almost snarled in annoyance thinking that Sakura might just be toying with him or worse _–trying to trap and lead him into a trap_. " _Nani_? What do you mean that you... I thought that you were the guardian of this _damned_ place."

His tone encased dubiety and silent threats and she nearly flinched when he stepped to her slowly, predatory and cupped her pointed chin forcing her head up to meet his searing gaze. "Are you trying to make me look like a foo _–_ "

"-no no! I am not trying to deceive you Sasuke. I am telling you the truth. The room has been sealed by the First Hokage himself and ever since it has been guarded by a Priestess. The previous priestess was his granddaughter Lady Tsunade Senju one of the three Legendary Sannin. Trained into the fine arts of shinobi, she has fulfilled her duty meticulously and with much honor before it has been passed to me, but our role only spans to _safeguarding_ this place for no one of us has the ability to break the _Holy Seal_." Even worse; it was an _Uzumaki_ seal.

Sasuke was listening and his blood was simmering brain whirling and wheels screeching frenetically; this was all a conspiracy. "I doubt it that Hashirama Senju has completely Sealed such a weapon away from the curious eyes, foolishly hoping that no one will try to force his way inside. Someone has to have the key _–_ "

Sakura cut him short shaking her head. "-well this is exactly how it goes. No one has the key, no one knows about its existence since the Priestesses take the secret into their graves... until now at least..." she mumbled dejectedly he resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Well I am sorry to break it to you but Akatsuki DID found out that there is an immeasurable source of power concealed within the security of this Temple and sadly enough they are not the only ones. If Hashirama himself didn't hid a key somewhere or entrusted it to the guardians like it would have been logical, then someone else who was informed about it must have left a clue somewhere."

"What are you trying to say Sasuke?" She narrowed her gaze at him as he sauntered around the room.

"What do these symbols scribbled on the walls represent? I do not recognize this language... that if it is a language to begin with. And why are the _Uchiha_ clan`s spiritual guardians symbolically placed at the entrance of the–" he cut himself short cursing softly gnashing his teeth together. "–damn!"

"What?" She came to join him as she saw his eyes gleam of red rubies as they scanned the walls, curious about what could have made him so agitated.

His stare this time, was confident, cold, calculative and lethal but also... she gulped once; a shivering feeling has suddenly coursed through her that Sasuke kind of belonged in there in ways that she could not explain but she felt it into her bones and even through their jutsu.

The chakra around was blazing in an abnormal way, giving her an unsettling feeling like craving to... dash away from there.

Sakura gulped audibly and this time, scalding rivulets of perspiration prickling under the folds of her kimono and behind her ears. "Have you figured out something? What about the inscriptions?"

Oh dear Kami _– if only she_ _knew_ _about what_ _exactly_ _was she safeguarding, what Konoha has been hiding for so long... this is impossible!_

 _Sasuke was half tempted not to believe it himself but the evidence and the majestic allure of this place were all but screaming the truth, not to mention that the events were connecting and made so much sense now to him._

 _Sasuke never thanked the Heavens like in this moment that he was one of the rare few selected elites in the Uchiha clan to be capable of acquiring the_ _Mangekyou Sharingan_ _, otherwise he would have missed_ _it._

Uchiha remained motionless but his fists were clenched and his stare focused; she never saw him this concentrated and almost shaky about something. Sakura had an unsettled frisky feeling into her belly. "Sasu _–_ "

"–under the tatami that my brother talked about back then..." He cut her short seemingly faraway memory netted into his childhood traumatic memories as he chose the best approach to break it to her, because unlike all the Elders who seemingly protected and relied on her services, he will be hundred percent open and _honest_ with her.

It was clear that they still haunted him but he was no longer a prisoner there; his voice was distant, icy like not sewed with emotion about his family but there was respect and acceptance settling with the past.

"...I have seen it once before but couldn't decipher anything at that time and these writings... they remained ebbed into my conscience even though I was not able to comprehend it..."

He made no sense. She wanted to touch his shoulder but she opted against only stopping midway touching his skin with her fist loose grip placed on her heart protectively nipping her lower lip.

She let him continue as she realized that Sasuke wanted her to know this; he was confessing this to her because Sasuke was not the type of man to blabber to no one in particular, he had too much control for such an act of obvious loneliness vulnerability.

When he didn't continue but only swirled on his heel and faced the boulder sealing the door Sakura attempted softly, almost inaudibly; he was very alert of everything and he nearly smirked at how hesitant and scared she seemed by him, but he couldn't blame her. He was baffled himself not expecting this turnabout of events.

"W-What... is that you have found out S-Sasuke?" _Oh_ – it must be guilty pleasure to her to murmur his name so softly, so affectionate and hesitant; it empowered him with the feeling of masculine dominance over her.

He was going _insane_ and this place... the abnormal energies here were labyrinthine and had an occult aura almost conjuring his inner demons and slowly ration and composure and modesty slipped past him but he was conscious about it and thus didn't let his mind stray away; nonetheless the feeling was bizarre, outré and eerie. He couldn't blame it on Sakura to be perceptive about such a flip of events.

"Ever heard of the _Chakra Fruit_ before, Sakura?" The look in her orbs as she made a comical grimace in pure confusion said enough. He nodded once to her continuing to disclose truths to her that no one will ever tell.

"There is a secret treasure that has been passed into my clan for generations and it is buried deep under the Naka Shrine," He turned to her briefly with an apparently neutral expression.

"The sacred temple of the Uchiha clan. But that place serves more than spiritual and religious purposes. It was the clan`s secret meeting place and my father was their leader."

Her orbs widened briefly; she didn't know about his ancestry, especially not fine details like this.

The fact that the clan`s leader instigator to the coup d'état was a known fact in a secluded circle, but Sakura didn't know that it was Sasuke`s _father_ behind the conspiracy. The lump in her throat nearly choked her.

But now when she was hearing the entire story from the perspective of an _Uchiha_ , the son of the former leader himself it had a greater impact as the specific information was far more accurate. It had an impact on her naturally.

All those open emotions gleamed like rays of light against the emeralds and Sasuke depicted all reveling into them. How naive... for her to pity him from all the people; a broken man with inability to ever _return_ those feelings.

This is why he was confessing those to her like the pages blank of a diary –she will not disclose them, she was the prefect confident because she was encasing every secret in her heart keeping them as treasures and sharing the pain like a Priestess, making it her problem and thus suffering along with him.

* * *

It was sadistic and parsimonious from his part to charge her conscience and he was aware of it. But he didn't care. "Have you ever heard about the Uchiha Tablet, Sakura?"

"No." Her voice oozed with sincerity as he nodded to her glimmering once. She shook her head revealing the same look in her exquisite orbs as they appeared to be so kind, soft, loving, sympathetic and interested focusing on him, absorbing every word like a sponge with her savvy mind. "Never heard of it. What is this Tablet?"

"It contains the history of our clan, our origins and secrets about our unique _kekke genkai_... among other crucial secrets."

Her orbs widened briefly upon hearing the valor in his determined words. No wonder that she never heard of it. It sounded equally important as this hidden treasure itself.

"But... a special requirement is mandatory to read its contents and not to mention that it was heavily guarded by the Uchiha Clan and thus inaccessible for the general public. Just like _this_ secret." Sasuke turned his profile to the girl who was almost watching him in pure affection and curiosity nodding as he pointed to the sealed door, both staring at the giant sculpture in almost longing manner.

Truth to be told, Sakura never really wondered about what might have been hidden behind that bolder as it was not in her place to be asking _questions_.

Being a Priestess and thus following sacred _Rules_ automatically implied that her very essence as a curious human, blessed with cognizance and feelings, as well as subjectivity and the desire to analyze, to meditate at the order of things, to judge and ration have all been _nullified_.

She blinked slowly entwining her digits draped hands by her kimono and she looked like a crane with elegant wings spread wide open, courtesy to the pristine silk lustrous kimono that was sewed with pink and blood red Chinese embroidery cherry blossoms and jade dragons.

"Special requirement like... what?" She had a hunch about what it might be when his Sharingan swiveled slowly from three tomoes to intricate fractal design of an occult star, being more than self-explanatory.

"You need the Sharingan for all the content to be readable and visible, otherwise you are staring at an incoherent scribbling. The more powerful and advanced the Sharingan is, then the more secrets are unfolded to these eyes. By the time I have seen it first, I only had the _basic_ Sharingan."

He remembered the secrets that his brother mentioned but he couldn't penetrate his illusion because Itachi`s eyes were more advanced and not only physical ocular power, it meant spiritual power and mental cognizance, wisdom, experience and maturity.

It took more than an eye to decipher the letters –it took a wise mind to understand the meaning of it.

He has been so naive as a child... no wonder that his brother couldn't confess to him and trust in his intuition until the very end when he admitted his failure.

Sasuke blinked once the memory away faded in the dust of time returning to his present –a woman with emerald orbs shimmering delightfully like crystals of love.

 _Like a concerned_ _wife`s._

"The two statues on the entrance mirroring the ones supporting the ceiling of the Naka Shrine is neither coincidental and nor are the same writings on the walls."

Sakura orbs flew open with shock gasping lightly in shock. "Wha– you m-mean that these bizarre letters a-are those inscribed on the...?" She turned to him waiting pleading for confirmation.

He simply nodded to her with the same distant look in his eyes, but she knew better than to fell prey to this spurious self-control, understanding that the fire flickering into his eyes were all flames of passion. " _–_ Yes. They are the same letters carved in stone on the Uchiha Tablet and I have imprinted them on my mind with my Sharingan when I was thirteen. I still recognize them now and even _more_... since unlike then, I now poses the Mangekyou Sharingan... along with my memories of my brother... whose eyes have been his final sacrifice, retribution and his gift to me."

Her heart stopped tickling upon hearing his confession and her voice broke into a strangled whispered murmur. "What?!" Glossy gasping lips hung wide open but coherence hasn't found its way on her lips. She gasped like a fish out of the tank foolishly.

Sasuke gave her an unfathomable look waiting for her mind to digest that plethora of what she probably deemed as fictitious information. "Ehm– wha– y-you are... y-your e-eyes a-are... b-brother... t-transplant– wait, _what_?!" If the situation wouldn't have been like this, then Sasuke would have laughed aloud at how she stuttered like a kid when figuring it out that Santa wasn't real.

He watched her in pure amusement concealed under that sophistic sophisticated cold look for three minutes long before she calmed down, strolling tentatively to him and looking to his eyes in such a comical way of pure perplex and fascination and her expression encompassed everything.

She wanted to touch him but her fingertips hung midway barely brushing his cheek and tip of nose. Sasuke barely stifled his laughter –she looked scared of him like seeing an alien species.

"Without dwelling into unnecessary details that are secrets of my family, know that by acquiring this level of Sharingan –the Kaleidoscope _'Mangekyou'_ Sharingan– a mandatory sacrifice is needed. For your eyes not to lose their light as it is both a formidable power only manifesting at an extremely selective individual Uchiha, an exchange must be made usually between siblings –brothers– and this is exactly what Nii-san did to me before he died; granting me his powers in return to never losing my eyesight like he did. I acquired the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. The eyes that any Uchiha would crave for without going blind."

Sasuke smirked proudly at how she wanted to instantaneously back up in fright; oh yeah– she should be scared by that all right because those eyes were more lethal than darkness itself.

Only ... she was more like worried and fascinated flashing through her orbs that he was in danger rather than thinking of her own well-being. A priestess to the core, huh?

"S-So it happened to you before, right? Going blind I mean... these are your brother's eyes? Not yours?" God, the Uchiha clan was twisted and full of enigmas –occult enigmas definitely far from her spiritual prayers.

Sakura could not understand such sacrileges and sacrifices of blood that run into the Uchiha clan for generations; it was shivering and bloodcurdling, but she was _not_ scared by Sasuke like he suspected.

She trusted him far too much, even more than logic itself.

"Yeah, and I will lie if I said that it wasn't unpleasant but... I had people by my side that were fast thinkers and had enough common sense and self-discipline to know what to do when I asked them to. Kabuto helped me in transplanting my brother`s eyes before I gave him his funeral, just like the Uchiha Tablet instructed –just like he anticipated and wanted me to do– and now I do not have to worry myself without something so trivia as going blind."

"A-And this… this _Chakra Fruit_..." Sakura licked her parched lips barely making any sense anymore. Sasuke's orbs flickered to her luscious mouth shining in the warm light then back on her face. "...and my Shrine... this place... are **connected**?"

" _More_ than simply connected... I think that they are two halves completing one another." Sasuke casually stated like he was discussing about the turbulent weather outside while mentally pondering whether to disclose it to her or not.

Then his keen intuition assured him about the safety of his secret as he entrusted it to her judging by Sakura`s scared reaction, deciding that it was worth a shot; smirking in that brazen but seductive manner and turning from calm and stoic to playfully evil and dark, Sasuke cocked his head to conceal that immeasurable amusement dancing on his beautiful face and took a step to her successfully backing her against on the sandy walls, while Sakura stumbled the same number of light steps back in perfect rhythm to him, while he was advancing to her, entering her personal bubble until their chests tapped softly, hotly.

Glancing into her orbs with an evil wicked and sinful expression amusement dancing in his spiral orbs, he whispered alluringly. "Sakura..." Her name came as a delicious shiver along the spine when he enunciated it in that peculiar baritone manner that only the wind ruffling through the leaves could mimic. "You know nothing about anything, my _dear_. The world of a shinobi... the roots, the essence of a ninja, the history of OUR ancestors is more twisted than you can imagine."

A warm slim digit, long and playful, mocking and seductive sensually rode along her jawline since Uchiha didn't have much uncovered skin to tantalize in that beautiful but long kimono hiding her modesty from him.

Sakura shivered and flinched from the electric jolts that coursed through her limbs upon the feather like touch, but didn't eschew from him; eyes were locked he was the hypnotizer and she the puppet savoring his words in both fear and pleasure; he was seeing it so clearly with his Sharingan and eagerly memorizing that expression, her body language.

"The Chakra Fruit it`s the seed of war and hatred ingrained into the very first generation of shinobi and thus it is the source of all the acrimony and wars between us the ninja; the venomous temptation of the snake... the one to draw the pure hearted mankind into savage fights for power... hungry for dominance. This Shrine and the Naka shrine are most likely connected Sakura... I don't even need to find the pathway to know."

He leaned to her slowly forward just to whisper against the flimsy pearl skin of her throat those words that were meant to both inform and captivate, and also to place his lips against her pulse.

Startled by the feelings that he conjured under her skin, a million swarm of coltish bumble bees seeking for the perfume of flowers, she turned her head on her side, looking at the flickering torches light scintillating a fallacious hypnotic light as she found herself propelled into a parallel dimension.

Delighted and aroused beyond imagination, Sakura nearly moaned in pleasure at the magnetic flamboyant sensations overflowing in rapid streams thought her when Sasuke`s lips attached grazed her skin, placing a soft kiss there; but she felt the poison of evil behind his elegance and softness.

What was wrong with him?

He never acted so carefree, casually playful and... _insane_? Like being drunk, drunk by her presence, of her fresh lily of the valley perfume mixed with roses in bloom, rain and ambergris. And his words... "I can feel it into my very being Sakura... that energy calling, beckon me to it... like something that has waited for me dormant for such a long time. A ray of light returning home."

She felt panic rush to her upon hearing those distant words of his slowly materializing into a latent desire; what was going on? Placing her hands on his sculpted chest with such a warmth and affection void of any sexual intent, she shivered his name. "Sas-uke... Sasuke? W-Why are you like-"

"—fool." The last known Uchiha countered her frail question, still chuckling darkly when his lips trailed along her jaw to her earlobe placing a kiss behind and she moaned and jumped startled at the sensation as he never kissed her there; it was a sweet spot that he figured coincidentally now.

He pulled back from her softness abruptly before doing something against his morals, racking a hand thought his raven hair and, detaching from her inviting warmth and femineity, Sasuke traipsed to the boulder with determination exuding from the pits of his stygian eyes, placing a firm palm on the hard rock.

* * *

"W-What are you doing?" She asked him between light gasps while trying to regulate her breath, hands on her folds kimono like he has transgressed her without even touching her in any improper and indecent way. "Sasu _–_ "

" _–_ I am going inside. I will see the Chakra Fruit with my _own_ eyes." Noting that he will _symbolically_ see the truth from his own _perspective_ and not the one distorted by the subjective opinion of his brother or anyone else; he will see for himself and judge for himself without being biased or brainwashed by anyone else.

Immediately Sakura fretted out as minutes passed by and she got even more nervous realizing that what they were doing was so dangerous that it made her fear peel from her skin being trimmed by the unmistakable feeling of suffocating there with him in her proximity, washed away by guilt and panic.

"Wha _–_ no _no_ , you cannot you… must not do that! This is forbidden Sasuke, no human, shinobi or civilian must ever get close to it, the first Hokage personally instructed that _–_ "

The acid in his voice made her breath stop midway her lungs. " _–_ if the Chakra Fruit is connected to my family than damn right I _do_ have all the right to get inside Sakura. For far too long the _Senju_ family has stood in our way... but not _today._ " It was ambition and hunger for power in his voice and that was something that made the air she breathed tremble into her lungs.

Sakura tapped her back against the wall, as rasped breaths and tears prickling in her eyes; not because she couldn't stop him but because she felt it the temptation the hunger for power and the excitement at the prospect of _acquiring_ it.

Just like she first feared…

Sasuke felt her distress too and he also realized that he was right as it captivated his body trying to tap to his mind... an abnormal **voice** into the back of his mind was trying to spellbind him, manipulate him and imbue the seed of hate and thirst for power into his core but he fought against it.

Or rather… she _–or anyone else for the matter– didn`t have the_ _right_ _to stop Sasuke from seeing what he called as the Chakra Fruit._

 _If it was indeed related to the Uchiha clan, then no one can deprive him of this privilege, of this inheritance that he got as a gift from his_ _ancestors._

Plus, Sasuke knew it all too well without trying to be a knucklehead delusional fool that he had a valuable weapon on his side to fight against that overwhelming temptation ; Sakura`s teary shimmering eyes and her feelings. They kept him out of the temptation and the trap of power hungry the demonic without a face.

Revenge started to froth and simmer inside of him once more; feelings suppressed were now resurfacing tapping on his chest and mind in violent spirals, but Sasuke had much more self-control than to let such feeble creatures like skeletons and ghosts from the past trying to grab his ankles and pull him back into that Hell once more; he will not allow himself to stray in the darkness once more —not when he finally memorized its map and was now maneuvering himself through the obscurity easy _owning_ the place and becoming _part_ of it.

Sakura followed him behind blurred orbs as he stood there, lithe and prideful, straight and dominant without even blinking, breathing or mocking while Sasuke`s palm gently rubbed the surface and suddenly the boulder seemed to be turning into a flimsy veil of silk under the virtual power of his presence, of his touch.

"Why—" The Priestess glanced at her own diaphanous elegant hands that were veiled by the kimono sleeves sewed with intricate oriental and exotic patterns and the purple around her wrists was pulsating and turned into a stormy dark shade; darker than ever and vibrant and... alive!

She felt swallowed by darkness but tried to fight it off connecting to Sasuke's mind as she kept her orbs glued to his silhouette; there was a thick maze between them as if she couldn't reach her like before.

Something was blurring his mind not quite reaching and dominating him but tempting his capricious temper.

The quietude around them felt heavy and electric she didn't dare to voice out her thoughts to him, afraid of what Sasuke might do to her, but her feelings were freely traversing that barrier and Sasuke felt what resonated within Sakura; mentally smirking as her distress escaladed to its paramount.

That tension was insupportable and heavy and Sakura would have liked to shout it out aloud for Sasuke to say something _anything_ instead of that silence that made her heart sto—

"—Be afraid of me Sakura... you are fascinated but you have no idea of _who_ I truly am." Her breath freeze midway her lungs as Sakura nearly choked on air darting her astounded orbs to his onyx ones, seeing as a plethora of outré lights and penumbras were dancing in his eyes, his words smearing her skin like marks of a leather whip.

She pretty much got a glimpse of it now; she always knew that Uchiha was not someone that she wanted to mess with, or at least, never push it further than he _allowed_ it.

Those electric words simmered through her mind as she nearly _nearly_ faltered upon seeing his ambition and desire written in those expressive eyes.

They shone in a dangerous way; demonic, sinful, and ready to sell his very soul to the devil for what was resting inside.

"Hn." His handsome impassive features broke into a sly smirk contempt visible on his face when he let his fingertips saunter along the bricks while sand was swirling in fine spirals sprinkling from under obviously not being touched in ages by anyone; he got his confirmation that Sakura was not transgressing this place. "So this is how it is, huh? Not very original."

She frowned lightly at his labyrinthine words but everything fell into place when focusing his Sharingan orbs he waved some hand signs that she couldn't recognize obvious attempting to get inside and when a sudden earth shake splintered the wall in half she panicked shrieking. "Aaah! Sasuk—"

"—stop screaming damn it." He cut her short sternly, icily like she was worth nothing in his eyes and his response and tonality without feeling hurt her worse than the shivers running along her limbs and jolts along her spine in fright.

Sakura watched in consternation as the huge boulder serving as a door slid backwards with a tremendous shake while sand and mini fragments of rock rolled from the sides as it grazed the walls of the cavern, retracing into what seemed like a secret tunnel.

Sasuke had his back on her all the times, trembling fists resting in balls on his side betraying excitement or fury; she wouldn't know but that emotion was alien on him, baffling her.

If this was his method to place reassurance and soothe her that everything was under control, then it was not working this time.

If Sasuke wanted Sakura to feel safe and protected around him then he would have to be in full control over his own temper first, because it was precisely his composed controlled and diluted fury the things that naturally eased her heart, but now... she was not sure that Sasuke was actually mentally stable anymore.

Something in his atmosphere... something about him, the way he seethed those words like truly despising not only her but everyone else, the rage diverted to someone specifically, the image of his clan pervading his mind like in the moment when he took revenge on them... it was agonizing to be in his presence, suffocating, and overwhelming in a nauseous way.

It took everything in her willpower not to drop to her knees holding her temples as she found the pressure pound and ricochet into her brain.

The shake ended up not in an anticipating silence but in a sinister deafening sound and violent waves of shake of the huge boulder splintering into rocks and becoming a pile of sand and dust.

Immediately out of pure reflex, Sakura covered her nostrils and sensitive orbs shimmering with tears with her loose airy folds of kimono coughing thrice, feeling claustrophobic.

And when it ended and she felt capable to breathe again though the thick maze of sand and darkness, Sasuke was nowhere in sight anymore and she unexpectedly heard no more sounds or shifts in the air as he vanished without a trace, silent as a gentle whisper. "S-Sasuke...? Sasuke!" She murmured as she carefully skimmed through the sharp rocks, mindful not to injure her heels, heading into the darkness in search for him.

"Sasuke, where are you?" She beckoned gently, getting no reply from the man, only an overwhelming heavy silence that started to scare her; she would have had no justifiable reason to be apprehensive in a holy Shrine, but this was an unfamiliar demonic place and she has just been the guide of the Devil back to his forgotten realm; oh Kami— _what_ has she done?

She knew for a fact that Sasuke`s laconic tenue was against any forms of flamboyant attitude but she also knew that Uchiha only spoke when needed, communicating and resuming his thoughts perfectly by few carefully chosen words —but not now.

His silence pounded against her chest, ramming inside her heart like a broken violin's string trying to fall into the right tune. "Sasuke!"

Her voice rose two octaves as Sakura saunter cautiously over the deep newfound tunnel carved right through solid rock under her Shrine —a place so secluded and secret that she had no idea it even existed.

But what tucked on her heart`s strings was Sasuke`s casual conniption towards the situation acting like being both hypnotized by the prospect of the treasure encased on the core of the cave and in control, who polarized attitudes that no sane human being would comprise —but he did flawlessly; his incessant orbs were never lying.

* * *

"Sasu—"

"— _Sakura_." Her heart stopped counting down seconds when she came to an abrupt halt letting her palm slid along the dusty moody wall apprehensively traipsing along the hall while throwing fugitive glances backwards when the light from the exit zoomed out into the distance and making her skin shiver at the lack of implied protection —by knowing her way out as she was voluntarily sinking into the realm of pure  darkness attracted by the owner himself.

Where Sasuke was then Sakura knew she was safe; _still_ safe around him because except for him, no one could harm her around the Uchiha, no one!

And albeit those scattered thoughts were sprinkled on her mind, she too was a woman secretly wading into the desirable feeling of being surrounded by a man`s protective arms and take shelter into his lenitive presence —and stupidly enough Sasuke _could_ be an amazing lover if he desired so.

Key point it being _if_ he put his mind onto it, but as her wrists burned by the intensity of the Jutsu pulsating in electric vibrating tinges of dark purple, letting her emotions net with Sasuke`s tortuous sentiments, Sakura highly doubted that _love_ was top priority for Sasuke`s tangled mind.

"Where are you Sasuke, I cannot see a thin—"

"— _Katon: Goukakyou no Jutsu_!" She was startled to hear his voice chant the name of the Uchiha`s hallmark Fire technique but after a roar of scalding warmth has blazed around the darkened mouth carved in solid rock under the Shrine, she understood that the balls of scorching flames illuminated the torches on the walls and thus it kindled the entire space piercing through the twilight with a majestic effect.

"Oh. my. Kami-sama!" Quivering palms muffled spooked scream as Sakura made a small pyramid with her hands over her gasping mouth as her heels froze in place with the folds of her kimono flaring around her ankles and her coral hair flittering around like a bride`s veil concealing half of her face. "W-What exactly is t-this weird _plant_...?"

She let the question trail into the air while her nightingale tune ricocheted from the darkened walls enveloping her from all the directions like roars of million sinister whispers of ghosts and tormented spirits; the atmosphere turned from dangerous to ominous and bloodcurdling in the moment when she encircled Sasuke`s unmoving form, coming to stand beside him, keeping her distance looking at what he was intently focusing on.

The first thing that her green garnet orbs traipsed to, were huge white cords attached to the ceiling, digging deep into the solid boulders and earth sewed into a net like supporting a chandelier and they all entwined into the middle of the room where a giant plant, botanically reminiscent to a giant nut, fissured in half with an outré texture resembling lush fresh grass and thick dark three barks seemingly forming a protective cochlea, nesting a purple juicy and pulpy looking _fruit_ similar to the Pinot Noir grapes, was hanging ominously.

If any trace of dubiety trimmed through her mind about the origins of the bizarre plant, then the two huge exotic luscious olive leaves growing atop in a dark bright shade of vibrant green assured Sakura that she was looking at something that was forbidden but as much as she had absolutely zero idea of what that treasure nest into the vault of the Earth itself, she quirked a fine eyebrow up and Sasuke was actually missing a very amusing childish expression creasing her face because he not once let his orbs mosey to her presence; he was after all, _feeling_ every stammer of her heartbeat through their Jutsu and the peak of her confusion and a bit of apprehension through his very being courtesy to their connection.

"Is t-that a ... _Fruit_? Sasuke?" She gingerly beckoned the man while her emerald orbs shyly sauntered to the Uchiha`s form and Sakura herself had no idea of why she was being so edgy around him all of sudden; something about his ambience virtually pushed her two invisible steps back from the man that has made love to her like the most affectionate perfect lover not long ago.

She tried her best to mask her insecurities and circumspect feelings from him in vain because the vibrations she felt through her body made the liaison to Sasuke through that sickening weird Jutsu increase tenfold.

Something about the place... the atmosphere of the eerie cave dug underground was abnormal, charged with a magnetizing electric feeling that turned the air difficult to inhale and her heart to thump louder and whether it was from adrenaline or the shock, Sakura had no idea but it was very unsettling and Sasuke`s conniption was not soothing the tension around, on the contrary it aggravated it.

"Hn… fine observation, Sakura." Unlike Sakura whose sateen skin was prickling with cold shivers pinching her every pore sending in perfect resonance to the bells jittering inside her head, alerting her to dash out of there and seal the cave back like she has never been there, Sasuke`s alto timbre was shivery sensual and disimpassioned.

" _I_ shall be the one asking you about the origins of this treasure since _you_ are its guardian _Sakura._ "

Air got stuck into her throat when Sasuke finally let his orbs stroll to her lackadaisically without him flinching or breaking the perfect statuesque unfathomable look on his face, seeing a ruby gleam whirling in spirals around his irises tossing her a sparkled glance that was capable of kindling solid rocks ablaze with that look alone; and sadly enough, it was not even diverted to _her_ but to what they were seeing.

She gulped audibly once, shamefully betraying her inner turmoil and her fragile feelings and fears but then again, she could never truly hide her heart from Sasuke. "I d-don't know... what this is Sasuke. I have never seen anything reminiscent to this in my entire life."

"You are lying to me."

"No _no_ you have to believe me Sasuke. I am telling you the truth!" Sincerity was shimmering into her gemstone orbs glazed by dried tears and fear. "I have never been here and nor was I informed of the origins of what am I guarding. I was just instructed not to let... to let anyone ever trespass this... place."

She nipped her lip bowing down her head in shame; Sasuke's stare hardened as he didn't need her to have a trail with her conscience right now, and somehow, his patience was cut halfway short as he felt an unexplainable and incontrollable fury travelling along his spine; mixed with an immeasurable zeal for power and hunger for _blood_ that he hasn't felt in ages.

He didn't want to make the Priestess the victim of his untamed capricious temper. "You are so useless." His words were rude, blunt and pierced deep hurting her in ways that no tear would resist the temptation to fall from the basket of its eyes as the sprinkled under her eyelids.

"What is the point of having a guardian if she has no goddamn idea of what she is safeguarding exactly?" Not to fall into the temptation of wanting to claim it to herself maybe?

Why all those ridiculous and illogical safety measures since the priestess was pure as snow and brainwashed and stripped of her origins and alienated from her past, like a newborn tore from her mother's protective arms then?

"I am sorry... I should hav— _oh no_!" Obsidian orbs burned into her widened ones as realization struck her and now Sakura felt stupider than ever for not noticing it for the very first time.

Orbs flicking to Sasuke`s and nearly gasping again when she saw just what type of demented demonic ambition was simmering into his eyes and creased his sensual sharp features as she murmured.

"T-This… This is t-the… the Chakra Fruit! Sasuke, is this the Chakra fruit that you have been talking about earlier? Is the prospect of its unimaginable power the one to captivate you so suddenly?!"

His lack of repose and the way his beauty seemed frozen on his face like a lonely distant star was expressive enough to confirm it that it was exactly _the_ Chakra Fruit that the Uchiha Tablet stood as a vestige for; the story about the creation of the shinobi world.

It was as mythological as it was nearly overwhelming to imagine the weird fruit hanging on the ceiling as huge chandelier in a Gothic church was something of such an immeasurable value.

He didn't understand it in a bit but... he felt it! Oh— how deliciously he felt it vibrating through his mind, sound and clear; the calling of the devil singing his song and he was loving every part of that fallacious melody knowing that he was sauntering right into the trap of eternal hell but it was so goddamn irresistible and thus it came as a response to everything that Sasuke was looking for —like the answer to the quintessence of his very being and it was a calling that was as transcendental and organic as the purpose of his existence; Sasuke couldn't deny it. Not even _he_ could deny that ancestral calling, it was innate, primal, organic and so definite.

"What are you doing Sasuke, don`t touch it! It could harm yo—" Sakura`s body tensed as her heart revved into her chest furiously almost like wanting to protest against the Uchiha's actions feeling it with all the intuition that a Priestess connected to natures hymn and harmony sensed the acrimony and the evilness of that malicious questionable object and thus she outstretched her hand to tuck on Sasuke`s bicep, her fingers coiling around the tauten muscle timidly and shakily barely touching him but Sasuke jerked away from her touch like she was everything that he resented in that moment.

The vicious act sent a violent electric jolt of pain and hurt right thought her chest as she gasped audibly at his defiant calloused temper.

Elegant marble skin was burning like a pyre and she has severely misunderstood him; Sasuke`s entire body was stiffened and hard and all his muscles were protruding and tensed being coursed by bulking veins and hot rivulets of sweat traipsing along his carved torso.

His fists were trembling in furious or excited balls as his hands were leisurely dangling on his sides and with every step he took, his shadow that was defying the flickering warm light from the torches spanned behind his retracting aback, latching to him like the visage of a veritable demon laughing mockingly and ominously at her.

"—you wouldn't understand now, how could you?" Sasuke knew for starters that this bizarre plant resembling a fruit had its history carved into solid rock on the Uchiha Tablet and thus a sojourn to the abandoned Naka Shrine would clear him of any doubts but right now... there was a magnetic **attraction** to it like the one beckoning Eve to commit a mortal sin, lulling his every step as light paddles of his heel roared along the room and every step was agonizing to hear; the sound of a soul falling into irrecoverable temptation. "It is not a matter of it _harming_ me but more like..."

Heart resonating with the frenzy of his pulse excitedly paddling in silent strokes of his swift heels to the forbidden fruit tempted by sin and exuding a thirst and eagerness that Sakura didn`t see on him, she watched him helplessly enter the luminous radiance oozing from it while he slowly reached out with his fingertips to touch it.

Something flickering inside of her made Sakura shout to him desperately to help. "Sasuke no, _don`t_ touch it!" Her warning was imploring and full of worry —like worrying for a lover`s well-being— but it came too late since Sasuke`s ears were deaf and his eyes were blind to the affectionate advice as he pressed his _left_ palm against the hard protruding shell enclosing the core of the lavender fruit.

* * *

Out of nowhere, a violent jolt of electricity blitzing them both in a blinding canon shot followed by a bloodcurdling ear splitting shriek like thousand nails screeching against a black board sending Sakura crunching to her knees as they hit the pavement shaking with her hands pressed against her ears, letting out a sharp cry and squeezing her orbs shot and her scream was overwhelmed by Sasuke's demonic one —he literarily screamed in pure agony. "Oh—!"

"—ARGHHHH!"

"—Sas-Sasu-ke...? SASUKE!" Pure torture was simmering along his body and millions of invisible electric needles pierced every cell and every inch of him until he couldn't make out from between pain and oblivion, caving in on the floor dropping on his knees as his legs wobbled and his body turned deliquescent, bones turning into sand and muscles melting like jelly, hollering as he gripped his burning throbbing temples with his shaky palms. "Sasuke! Kami, _Sasuke_ what`s wrong, what happens?! What`s t-this?!"

Hastily, Sakura ignored the streaks of salty tears that frothed along her cheeks and immediately joggled to him dropping on her own knees to come in level with him, worry plastered all over her delicate features; her heart felt like dying in pain for seeing him in such a bad condition. "Sasuke are you all righ— oh! No, we shall get out of here before it kills us bot—"

"—n-no!" He growled through gnashed teeth holding his left hand in his own as a searing pain burned his every pore, barely willing himself not to lament and bawl his eyes out as they stung and a fine line of blood leaked from his left eye thicker and richer than before when he strained his Mangekyou Sharingan.

"We have to... seal it first!" He reasoned trying to stand up in vain; his entire body was encompassed by violent shakes. "Before it... spreads outside... and hurts the other— _AH_!"

He squeezed his left eye shut as the pounding in his temples and the back of his eyeball burned his mind, nearly making him go dizzy, but a rather strong but gentle pair of hands haphazardly wrapped around his torso and shoulders trying to haul him up; with his last effort, he helped Sakura pull him in a shaky standing position as she dragged his nearly lax body towards the exit, only looking briefly at him as she was gasping herself; he could depict the sound of her heartbeat pumping like a caged butterfly trying to break free.

Her crystalline orbs were filled with worry for him, searching into the depths of his own a clue that he was fine.

It pained his chest even worse than the abnormal scalding electric jolts of pain piercing his cells like million invisible needles of his Chidori Senbon to see her looking out for him with such affection —that he knew he did not deserve and not did he rewarded by returning it.

"Sasuke, you shouldn't have touched the Fruit, we don't know what powers it comprises and what is it capable of. What if you d-died...?"

She murmured softly as her voice broke when imagining the Fruit killing Sasuke right in front of her and, albeit he would have deserved the fate for transgression paying with his life, _she_ felt like dying along with him if something would have happened to the Uchiha.

"Sasuke, I cannot place a Seal strong enough without the help of my chakra."

"I-It's n-not only about... the sealing _Sakura_..." He was panting heavily and fading in and out of staying conscious but his life force as well as determination and composure were an art for the Uchiha. "...the _Chakra Fruit..._ it`s going to h-harm the... entire Village... the entire s-shinobi world… with its life-force... it has already... started..."

Sasuke was perspiring heavily, looking feverish and dizzy barely keeping his composure. Sakura brushed his bangs off his eyes brushing over his forehead; he was blistering with a raging fever!

He was on the verge of losing his mind and consciousness and yet he was thinking about the Village? Sakura would have been impressed by his devotion if worry wouldn't have occupied most of her mind at the moment.

He looked in deep pain and sick and weak, but his eyes were bleeding obsidian drowned into pain that was calescent in his eyes; they were luminous but with dizziness probably fighting to keep being alert. His muscles looked frail and fragile instead of their usually tauten and potent vigor.

What was he babbling about? His laconic personality had no effect on his fluency and coherence usually but now he was barely making any sense.

"Sasuke, what are you saying, I cannot understand... and what about the _Chakra Fruit_?" He was obviously referring to the plant that had its own mechanism of defense against intruders but Sasuke tapped it anyhow; stupidly, or so she thought.

"We have to get far from it, you are sick and your forehead is burning with fever—"

This time, instead of whacking her hand away off his shoulder as she tried to curl her arm under his armpit and help him up, Sasuke tucked on her wrist lightly without any aggressiveness twisting it so as he made her attentive to him albeit his coherence failed him slowly but surely.

Startled she crouched to him folding her kimono under her knees and kept her hand into his grip that started to break her fragile bone, but she knew he was trying to hold onto her and tell her something very important. "—forget it Sakura. You don`t... this is more urgent than my current condition... I am _not_ sick..."

Whether it was manly bravado of his hurt ego or a genuine affirmation, Sakura would not know for certain, but the urgency in his demanding eyes pinned to the pulsating rays of light spilling from the cave piecing through the darkness and blazing with an incredible energy that blended into the _Nature_ itself, as everything around roared alive animating the entire still panorama, assured her that Sasuke still had self-control.

"Oh— Sasuke... Sasuke! Just stay awake ok? Stay with me… _please_ Sasuke. Don't fall asleep!" Seeing him dip down his head as the cords of his muscled shoulders tensed and straightened like he was focusing every last droplet of chakra into his system for something, Sasuke briefly squeezed his orbs shut exhaling slowly twice regulating his breathing, and immediately they flew open swiveling like wheels in Hell pouring melted lava around his irises hypnotically dancing with the same detailed pattern of _Choku Tomoe_.

The immense concentration that he poured into that stare knocked Sakura`s wind out of her lungs feeling like suffocating as she was clustered by two immense forces radiating from Sasuke`s Mangekyou Sharingan seeping through their Jutsu and the Chakra Fruit on the inside, almost like two invisible colliding forces trying to quench the fire of amity burning between them.

But Sakura refused to move an inch from his side; never has his condition worried her like now and she was shocked herself to find out just how scared she was for his wellbeing, almost like being _terrified_ by the prospect of losing _him_ other than being harmed by the abnormally high quantity of Chakra exuding from inside the mouth dug into the world nesting the Chakra Fruit.

Then Sasuke baffled her with a gesture that she didn't understand in completion to something that his lips were murmuring beyond the simmering fever that rammed his body melting his bones and making his muscles ach and throb painfully, chants that Sakura didn't hear or understand, almost like a succession of a Jutsu`s name whirling in staccato low syllables from his parched lips; he outstretched his left hand with his palm opened and facing towards the now uncovered entrance of the cave almost like aiming to keep the spirits far away from sauntering to them, the tips of his fingers curling like the paws of a capricious cat, covering his wrist with his trembling right hand for support.

Immediately a succession of incessant dark purple flames roared like coming from the depths of Hell dancing around the outline of the cave`s exit spreading along the walls like torches in a spider`s net spreading flaming cascades down to connect the top to the ground completely sealing the entrance of the cave and blocking the blinding radiances exuding from the fruit entirely and what he shouted next puzzle her even further as she frowned in concision. " _Enton: Kagutsuchi — Indra`s Flame Sealing_!"

Sakura simply stared in complete mortification and bewilderment as a technique that she has never seen before in anyone —and she has encountered many strong opponents, including Senju Tsunade— was materializing in front of her very eyes from an apparently drained and exhausted Uchiha Sasuke, but the amplitude and the splendor of that bizarre Jutsu were not even the things that made her drop her jaw to the floor, no; it was the _quintessence_ of the _dark chakra_ that the technique was emitting the one that nearly had Sakura literarily faint.

It was the very same essential energy that surrounded the Chakra Fruit and the cave that was containing it with chakra ropes dangling from the ceiling, the one that made her skin crawl and shriek, and it took every self-control that she had not to visibly tremble like an abandoned puppy in the rain in pure horror.

As much as the Seal that Sasuke has just placed to lock the entrance to the Chakra Fruit was incredible and breathtaking, it was also exuding an immeasurable power, darkness and villainous danger. Truth to be told… it was staggering to even be in the same space as the Uchiha now.

Something about him… something that she couldn't place made her want to scurry _away_ from him, every iota in her body nearly hauled her away from Sasuke.

It was her _heart_ and her dedication the things that were stronger than all of those cosmic forces combined willing her to get _closer_ to him, instead of walking away and abandon him.

 _Like the Leaf Village once did…_

"H-How did you know how to Seal the... why do you call it the Chakra fruit? I mean... apart from the obvious of it resembling a fruit...?"

" _He_ told me..."

"He? Who is _he_? And what has this person told you abo— Sasuke!" He dropped with his left hand in her lap and his head on her chest in the crock of her neck as abruptly as his orbs lost their light and fluttered close shut, almost as if he —

"—NO! Sasuke!" Immediately Sakura wrapped her hands around his lissome limp form holding him tightly to her chest. "Sasuke?! Sasuke answer me please! Please!" She brushed his hair away of his face feeling his feverish exhales like a gust of warmth on her knuckles as she felt his pulse with her trembling fingertips. It was revving along his veins and making his blood froth like liquid lava. He needed help and fast! "Oh Kami— Sasuke..."

No, he absolutely definitely _cannot_ die on her now, no way! No, she refused to believe it and thus she immediately pressed her fingers against his pulse frenetically searching for traces of life in him and she found it; faint and barely pounding but she found his pulse.

Shockingly how Sasuke`s heart rate was abnormally high as his organ forced itself to pump more blood through his body, in addition to a raging fever that was scalding in every of his cells, but she let it slide for now.

One hand sliding around his shoulders and the other one wrapped around his waist, she hoisted him up with much difficulty not believing it how heavy he was as her feet were unsteady and shaky not being capable to stand steadily let walk on his own and Sasuke realized that she had to aid him into climbing the stairs alone.

"Auch— this is probably the only time when I do _not_ like his tall muscled body…" A virgin blush sprinkled across her cheeks like a powder upon realizing it where her mind was drifting to, shaking her head as vicious erotic dreams dropkicked on the doors of her mind, denying those lecherous desires.

"...wait, _what_ am I thinking about? Rutilant cheeks mirrored the image of her heart thumping rapidly inside her vault. "Oh my Kami how shameful to be imagining something so sinful!"

Sakura brushed those incandescent images on the back of her mind putting it past the fact that she has stayed in cold water and galloped half naked through the cool air and thus her mind was probably nourishing a light fever too.

She absolutely refused it to admit that she started to feel a _physical attraction_ for Sasuke, because a Priestess must never act in such a way and let impure thoughts flourish in her mind.

"Kami— if only I had my strength and chakra back to make it easier for me to carry him up to the stairs... oh no the _stairs..._ "

She moaned in pure agony while her hold around Sasuke`s limp gasping form tightened protectively absolutely refusing to let him go because she knew that he would slid from her grasp and hit his chin over the stairs but damn... how was she supposed to carry the Uchiha all the way up?!

She could have taken shelter into the small space between the stairs and the now sealed entrance to what Sasuke has just branded as the Chakra Fruit but an unsettling feeling moored to her like a hypnotic hallucinating phantasm of a demon howling and snorting through its menacing nostrils behind her nape, oozing of acrimony that they have transgressed its realm and the feeling was bloodcurdling and made her toes curl in distress.

She didn't want to spend the night in there with a nearly delirious Uchiha Sasuke barely willing himself to stay conscious.

* * *

 **BAM!**

"AH!" Sakura nearly jolted upwards as the back of her knees wobbled and she stumbled two steps backwards nearly tripping on the first set of stairs and barely finding her balance with Sasuke leaning almost entirely no her with his right hand, dangling behind her petite shoulder blades while his other left one sought for leverage, trying to curl against the railing successfully preventing them to fall.

"What was _that_ noise?!" She glanced skyward to peep to the flimsy faint glimmer of light piercing through the darkness like a neon tube coming from upstairs, orbs squeezing to take a better look. "It`s a storm... dear Kami-sama, Heavens are crying again…"

For an odd reason that was ingrained deep within the roots of her core, one that she didn't understand, Sakura was absolutely terrified by storms, especially thunderstorms and, albeit she will never deny the captivating dazzling beauty of unleashed nature pouring down to the matter in pelting droplets of heavy rain trimming through the rooftop of her Shrine, hear heart froze in horror whenever she heard those thunder bolts piercing the sky in half; almost like the sky took a demonic form.

Sasuke`s grunt was probably a reaction to her childish attitude but she didn't care. Slowly with his frail support gripping the railing with all the energy that he could summon, Sakura took Sasuke upstairs slowly climbing up as her toes trembled on every stair and the more she advanced, the weaker and feverish Sasuke got.

She was sick worried for him, not knowing what to do since she had no idea about what exactly has happened and her Chakra was not steady enough to attempt to cure him so she had to rely on her medical knowledge that she learned from Tsunade and whatever supplies she and stored in her Shrine.

"Where… are we going?" Surprisingly, Sasuke`s question was coherent but his tone lacked that husky power and dominance and was now reduced to a throaty murmur.

"To my bedroom." Sasuke would have definitely smirked and teased her at her explicit answer and the nuance with subtle hints of innuendo implied, but his mind was reeling in burning rage and fever while the merciless rain washing over the surrounding was accentuating his delirious headache.

In fact, if he was to be honest, every single iota of his body burned like million pins soaked in lava were piercing his skin while the pain burned and melted his bones up to his nerves making him go limp and the moment Sakura gently kneeled down on the futon, he literarily collapsed with his head onto her lap and his hands haphazardly gliding along the sateen of her kimono along her round sculpted knees, mumbling something that he himself couldn't understand.

But Sakura did; he asked her for water to quench down that calescent fire. Seeing how his rivulets of perspiration soaked his lustrous raven locks Sakura gingerly brushed the sticking tendrils away off his fluttering lids as he was dozing in and out of alertness, her heart ached at the sight of him caressing his forehead to feel his body heat soar alarmingly high. "Sasuke... you stay here and I will bring you water and medicine."

He tucked on her wrist but his fingers couldn't hold onto her as they slid to her palm and she quickly clasped her digits around his hand, holding it affectionately while the difference in temperature startled her as it traveled along her spine, making Sakura shiver.

She shook her head at him fighting the urge to wrap her arms around his chest and cuddle with him protectively, affectionately as Sasuke mustered to quirk one weak orb blindly searching for her as he turned his head over his shoulder to search for the gentle Priestess and she beamed a genuine small smile to him, addressing him softly and caressing his eardrums with a soft rose voice resembling the grace of a bell flower in bloom.

"No, don`t worry I will be right back. I will not leave you alone Sasuke." The unspoken promise latched to her heart was ' _Never'_ _and somehow Uchiha also heard it in his heart albeit she didn't vocally expressed it_. "I promise."

With that fire determination in her eyes, his lips moved to say something that met silence and he turned his head on the other side as she stood up dusting off her kimono and straightening the folds as she paddled hurried revving on her heel to an adjacent room sliding the bright red painted door.

A distressful worry doubled by misgiving was brimming down her chest while her traipsing grew less gracious and more urgent, heading to another adjacent side of the Shrine that was entirely secluded and prevented humidity and sun to penetrate through the walls, to where her medicinal herbs were stored.

"Fever... fever, I don`t even know the source of it..." She kept uttering frenetically looking for the necessary supplies and five minutes later Sakura was paddling right back to Sasuke.

A boulder was pressed heavily against her chest making her pant albeit she was not that physically exhausted when Sakura delicately slid the paper door open slipping into the room, trying her best to ignore the blasting roars of the thunder bolts blitzing and echoing in sinister deafening strikes all around the Shrine, gulping as she felt a lump chocked her along with the prickling tears that nearly aligned with her eyes seeing a very delirious Uchiha Sasuke.

His denuded chest was sheathed in burning droplets of sweat as it traipsed between his pectorals in seeping rivers leaking from the cords of his neck.

She followed the rapid swell of his tauten chest with every ragged breath that he took and how he lackadaisically trailed his tongue over his chapped lips.

It was just baffling how he has been reduced to such a _vulnerable_ state of agony in such a short span of time; and frankly, it pained Sakura worse than anything.

"Sasuke? I brought you water. Are you awake?" She called him delicately almost in a whispered tonality so as not to startle him or add to the throbbing headache that most likely tormented him, coming to squat on his left side, sneaking her right palm under his nape while her left one guided the porcelain jade encrusted jug to his lips while Sasuke struggled to keep his heavy fluttering eyelids open and focus on her digits holding the beautiful carafe.

She slowly angled the jug as the water was seeping along his moist lips quenching the pyre in his dry throat seeing as Sasuke emptied the content of the jug, and he swore that nothing he has ever drunk or ate before felt that invigorating and tasty; that was fresh clean water coming from the core of the high peaks and melted snow and it was doing wonders to his throbbing headache.

He noticed that it had a subtle tinge of Lotus flower aroma and it added to the aroma cleansing his senses like a holy prayer to tame the demons burning inside his mind.

Carefully placing the now empty jug beside her, mentally noting to not forget to always keep it filled with fresh water, Sakura soaked a piece of clean cloth into the water bowl twisting and squeezing it once and tapped the cool material among Sasuke's forehead, gently cooling down his burning skin, trying her best not to look into those big almond shaped onyx eyes which were following the motion of her hand with an abnormal intensity or the way he curled his left hand around her unoccupied hand, holding her tight for a reason that she could not understand; but her heart did, for it was leaping into her throat by the mere feeling of him holding onto her like that.

Like wanting to tell her something but coherence and logic failed him; or he was simply refusing to let her go. "What happened to you Sasuke?"

She asked rhetorically while nipping on her lower lip absentmindedly brushing the wet cotton towel along his sharp jaw line in delicate strokes, letting the water mingle with his marble skin, slowly trailing along his neck and shoulders.

Every sculpted shoulder was radiating with burning gusts of fever, creased by lavender-blue protruding veins and her touch did nothing to smother his fever, on the contrary, Sakura`s platonic ginger touch stirred something primal and urgent into Sasuke`s body that he has never felt before.

It was almost as raging and possessive as the need to possess and dominate her entirely, quell every of her inner latent spark and have her plead and beg him, writhing and arching under him as he created bridges between them, uniting and melting the unreachable distance, but it was infinite more demonic than how he usually felt about her.

This time, he felt like wanting to completely nullify her character and overlook her enigma as a woman, her mystifying womanhood and her sublime beauty and have her at his mercy, _breaking her wings_ while getting her spiritually and physically drowned and addicted to him.

Such a devious zeal to _possess_ and _dominate_ everything that he desired churned in violent waves all along Sasuke` s body, suffusing him with an abnormally high energy dissipating along every of his pores and blinding his ration.

Obsidian orbs hungrily followed every caressing studied strokes of her hand as Sakura was brushing his strong chest with that piece of cloth —a flimsy barrier between her fingertips and his aching skin— while his hold around her wrist tightened around the fragile bone marveling at how tiny her hand was albeit there was grace, skill and strength in those libs of hers, until he nearly herd the sound of joints pop.

She said nothing to him and nor did she make any attempt to stop his bizarre act, probably putting it past his condition and Sasuke gave her credit for handling the stress management so good. "Sakura,"

His lips murmured her name low and dry, rasped and throaty but still shivery baritone and delicious as he tapped his tongue along his lips to moisten them.

Emerald orbs flickered to him briefly and they astounded him for the millionth time because of how they sprinkling his inner demons with luminous, crystalline and suave emerald orbs they were looking back to him.

"The villagers... the Chakra Fruit is… harmful." He tried to explain while there was a powerful livid third voice roaring at the back of his mind inflicting figments of violence and hatred inside his mind, seemingly like playing the pabulum from his latent hatred, one that was bizarre but painful and difficult to resist; a demonic mantra.

"What... why would you say that Sasuke?" Worry was sewed into her angelic voice and the more Sasuke listened to her body language, synchronizing his sharp senses to the music of her body language and imagining that hand —that was taming the fever as soaked the towel once again brushing it along his sculpted abs— touching him freely and passionately like the first time she gave herself to him. Kami— the things she was doing to him...

"Try to preserve your energy Sasuke. I will take good care of you. It`s too late to turn back to the Village now when the weather is stormy and savage."

 _Oh_ — the weather was definitely _not_ the only thing who was _savage_ here, Sasuke mentally manically tittered in delight.

Something was happening to him, increasingly replacing the raging fever and the agonizing feeling of exhaustion, delirium and weakness with a sinister energy that twisted his mind, filled it with disdain doubled by the unexplainable thirst for blood and revenge and dark _really_ dark voluptuary desires.

And he had a naive innocent white dove landing right on his net, not even trying to free herself or struggle, on the contrary she was tending him, veiling him with affection and care like a _lover_ while his feelings alarmingly swayed into the other direction of parsimonious _sin_.

"Taking _care_ of me... really now _Sakura_..." He mocked her while chuckling darkly while she tickled his skin doubling the escalading level of arousal in his body –unexplainable carnal desires for this woman which would have normally been quenched by his self-restrain and common sense– but since his throat was crisp, it came more of a guttural sound of an injured beast with elfin thoughts.

* * *

"...and here I thought that you would use this petty cliché act like a cover for you wanting so badly to get closer to me and run your little hands along my _body_ ," The tiny thatch of hair at the back of her nape stood erect as Sakura`s spine was traversed by a cold electric shiver responding to the increasing level of danger in the air just hearing his words.

"I must confess that I am deeply hurt and _disappointed_ by your disinterest... _Sakura_ -hime." Why he settled with that suffix marking royalty, Sakura had no idea and nor did she wanted to find out.

Something was wrong with Sasuke`s sudden approach; that unusual coquettish attitude of a man who was everything but a philanderer, the nonchalance in using innuendos for explicit hedonic desires and the incredible strength that was radiating through his fingertips while he kept on constricting her with the hold around her hand nearly making her slender digits go numb and turn blue as she kept it neatly on her bent knees for support, leaning over him, using his other one to cool down his upper torso and wipe away the burning perspiration of his glimmering alabaster skin.

But Sakura could not limn the volte-face in the air, the charged atmosphere and the more that overflowing plethora of so many contradicting, blurred and negative emotions coursed through the barriers of the Jutsu he placed around her wrists.

Albeit the more he was pressing his nails down the intricate epistles tattooing her wrist, the more she felt like someone was placing iron handcuffs around her arm that have been soaked in lava prior to burning her skin and scaring her; she barely kept her teeth from gnashing and clattering in pain as his hostility nearly took tangible form.

It was almost like a virtual avatar of his Sussano'o technique –a spiritual projection of all those inner suppressed feelings of acrimony manifesting as a projection of all the passion and despair of the Uchiha.

But this time... it seemed like Sasuke did not have too much control left over his senses. "Don`t say such things Sasuke. I am genuinely worried for you. You are burning with fever. I must make sure that it goes down first. I will prepare a strong herbal _tea_ for you to drink after I finish cooling your body off–"

"—Hn," He interrupted her rudely having a sickening smirking amused expression on his visage, even going as far as to tilt his head towards her while those unfathomable onyx eyes were burning with an occult demonic silvery-claret lucent almost like she was seeing the Devil on the bottom of a deep cursed abandoned well, making her heart stammer but she didn't allow him to see that she was slightly scared of him; he probably felt it sound and clear hence his sadistic pleasure in seeing her break in front of him even if he was seemingly vulnerable and weak.

He has never truly been _weak._ "keep your ridiculous magical herbs to yourself Sakura. Besides... I can think of some _other_ ways for you to _cool_ me _off_ Sakura."

"What– _oh!_ "

"Now now _now_... wouldn't it resemble the completion of a very symbolic ritual if I would to _fuck_ a Priestess` brains in her own sacred Temple? Hm... _Sakura_? Tell me..."

His shivery baritone voice, as low as it came as a gentle warm caress along her skin, was in reality a sizzling meteor shower from the Devil himself, wicked and full of ambition.

"How would you like me to take you over and over again all through the night without stopping for even one single moment? Until the rain stops? Until you wouldn't be able to think straight?

"S-Sasuke... stop please–"

"— _na-ah_ – my beloved _Saku_... we haven't even begin and yet you are already _begging_ me? Not fair _my_ Priestess..." His nose was trailing along her throat tickling down to her collarbone.

It was his words and voice –sin mingling with velvet– the one that left streaks of fire in their way all along her body; she was too scared to move an inch, being froze under his hard rock hot body.

He was so _hot_ that his fire engulfed her like a fireplace blazing in a cold December; dangerous but warm and fascinating, protective and yet... frightening. This was Sasuke's duality; an enigma.

"The things I imagine for us to do Sakura... I want to fuck you so hard until you _break_ in tiny pieces like the porcelain vase and even then I will _not_ stop. I will make damn sure that you scream my name to all the Heavens as you watch me all the times; watch me staining you, invading you and take you ruthlessly without mercy."

"I won't stop until I get satiated Sakura and you will love and hate what I do to you at the same time, imploring me to stop but never stop." Hallucinating fears started to teem her mind and Sakura didn't even had the time to react when she found herself pinned down on the mattress of her futon, engulfed by the warmth that lingered on the sheets, straddled by Sasuke who rolled them over so that he got comfortable hovering above her, with his hands firmly spreading hers apart and keeping her caged under his iron steel hold, defenseless and extremely apprehensive.

"Hm... your body is already so wet, so hot for m _e Sakura_ , how naughty... it just makes me want to bury my tongue into your pussy and lick you dry; drink all that your body has to offer."

The way she looked at him, orbs withering under his incessant stare, throat constricted as her mouth went dry and thirsty to taste his _fire_ frozen under his stare alone; the planes of his chiseled body molding and twining with her own shadow, being as strong and tauten as it was light and didn't crush her, simply overwhelming her with passion and explicit carnal desire.

"Would you like to _taste_ me as well?" His smirk mirrored the gleam in his half shut onyx eyes, burning of a strange shade varying from blood claret to dark lavender as Sakura gulped and cold shivers trimmed along her spine as she literarily trembled in his arms, in both fear and adrenaline; he was toying with her and it was _delicious. "_ Go ahead, I won't stop you."

He has never been so vulgar, so blunt, so explicit and thus Sakura has no idea of how to respond to him. It was like this man was _not_ Sasuke but at the same time, it sounded so much like a latent inner that was manifesting inside of him, projected on the exterior. "Why are you so shy with me Sakura? You are not a virgin maiden anymore and you definitely _enjoy_ having sex with me. No need to pretend that you don't when we both know that this isn't true."

In her delirious haste, Sakura was positive that the words encased into her lips remained forever hidden as she tried her best to beg him to _stop_ but she couldn't hum anything coherent that was not a traitorous moan caused by how he deliberately rolled his hips in slow hard circles upon her own, letting her get a glimpse of how he truly could make her feel and arousing desires inside of her that she never knew they existed.

She was blinded by jitters but that disquietude was overshadowed by an illogical and unreasonable fact that she didn't have to fight him off because it was _Sasuke_ the one to pervade through her modesty and transgress the barriers of her intimacy and personal bubble and thus she secretly _wished_ for him to mold his body with her own, let her feel the peaks and crests of that voluptuous masculinity and touch the velvet of his skin with her fingertips, while getting submerged into his dirty words.

Dark promises that only an Uchiha could turn from vulgar, graphic and cheap to elegant, sensual and erotic.

"You know Sakura… the more you squirm and wiggle in my arms then the _harder_ I get and more eager I get to plunge inside of you savagely, burying my body into your tight core until I fill you up to the hilt. I get animalistic only by envisioning _it_..."

Gingerly Sasuke traced his moist tongue along her succulent lips with pleasure savoring the piquant fruity taste of this trembling under him Priestess, grazing along her slender rubicund cheek and nipped on her earlobe and a soft sensitive spot behind her ear shell and she moaned in unwanted delight at how incredible good it felt for him to kiss her there; _this is madness!_

"You are so goddamn _beautiful_ and _angelic_ _Sakura_ that I want to smear you and corrupt you and make sure that everyone knows that you belong to _me_ and only _I_ can have a claim on you. Not even _you_ … only I can have you like this."

Somehow, those words implying lack of freedom to express her choice aroused her a stirred a strong indescribable sense of belonging and _protection_ in her chest, albeit Sakura knew that it was Sasuke's insanity moment speaking as he was heavily hallucinating like being under the influence of a drug or aphrodisiac.

He seemed to be _possessed_ by demonic forces and not only he was completely changed in attitude, but his aura seemed different, uncommon and somehow… extraterrestrial!

Tears welled into the depth of her befogged orbs as she panted and moaned in both pleasure and apprehension but she had only a feeble half will to push him back off her body; he wouldn't budge but the dominance was more _mental_ _than physical._

She didn't fight him ardently because she _wanted_ him passionately; she desired Sasuke Uchiha like she has not desired anything in her life with such intensity.

Albeit Sakura felt so dirty and cheap like a libertine succumbing to the desires of a man whose mind was reeling in obscure insanity being possessed by something that she couldn't see instead of sleeping with a man whose ration was as clear as his intentions, her body was stronger than her –and her heart betrayed her ration.

She wanted him too much anticipating eagerly what was to come, reveling in his touches while she mentally tried to deny their effect and looking forward to him to fulfill those explicit dark sexual promises.

Her slick lips moistened with every worse he said getting wetter and wetter with every epistle and every rumble of his husky voice; he was the Devil corrupting the angel in her own paradise with epicurean promises of sin and she _enjoyed_ them thoroughly.

Sasuke called her beautiful and angelic again and those words, albeit spill din such a context and in a sexual context, Sakura still behold them dearly; Sasuke didn't call her _'hot'_ or _'sexy'_ objectifying her or reducing her to a piece of meat, or an object of his desires and ignoring her femineity and beauty. No, he still referred to her as _beautiful._

And that made her heart beat faster and her body to feel less used, cheap, sluttish and dirty and more... _right_ to do this with him.

It was always natural to be with Sasuke in ways that Sakura couldn't describe, but she knew he felt it too.

There were two opposing strong voices in Sakura`s head; one was screaming at her to pry him off her, escape and fight him while the other one was eager to be his again.

What puzzled and worried her was his physical and mental state; Sasuke didn't seem like himself but at the same time, something about his eyes and general tenue felt like he has finally found his _inner voice_ , the quintessence of his natural _element_ and the legacy of his inheritance and _personality_.

A similar feeling to returning to his _roots and ancestry_ and that wild thought was something that Sakura couldn't depict, but it was blazing.

And it started with him coming in contact with the chakra Fruit. "What is happening to you Sasuke?" Why was he acting like that?

He froze for a moment raising his head and straightening his spine to look at her and his expression was stoic and serious like being struck by a moment of lucidity; her heart stopped pounding for a moment when she thought that Uchiha recovered from whatever was traversing his mind but then he broke into a hallucinating smirk, so sadist and corrupt and gleaming of a sickening feeling of fulfillment and enfranchisement, that it scared her beyond belief.

Leaning forward until their nose tips tapped fanning hotly upon her lips he whispered to her words that knocked the wind out of her lungs and sent her mind into oblivion.

"I am finally _home_ Sakura." And kissed her roughly in the same time when his already engorged manhood poked her moistened slick aperture thrusting inside of her wet passageway hitting up to the hilt merciless, stretching her impossible wide to adjust to his girth and her orbs immediately squeezed short as a wave of searing pain tore her innards in half.

"Ahhh— n-no Sas—"

She didn't even know when Sasuke unclad from his pants and sneakily parted the folds of her kimono to feel the soft skin that she hid underneath, masking his inconspicuous intentions with the fire electricity that his touches evoked inside of her, making her senses go drunk and alert.

With those words burning into his lips, gleaming into his sadistic eyes that now turned red like the blood pumping in frenzy through his throbbing veins and reflecting into the muffled screams reverberating through their forceful hot kiss, the contours of a small symbol filled with an inky color in the shame shade of his raven hair into the soft skin of his left palm, the one that was now rounding the outline of Sakura`s supple right breast, caressing and massaging the sateen skin like kneading smooth supple dough.

The symbol of a crescent **moon**.

* * *

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 **A/N:** Sorry for this late update guys, but I was very busy with my Thesis. I had to pull extra hours to finish it and thus send a draft to my Professor, but I have successfully finish it and thus have time to finally focus on my stories. For more details about the upcoming updates, there is a brief note posted on my profile page, so visit it if you are eager to find out more.

I will do my best to get to my previous routine of faster updates now that I still have time before the exams period in June. Thanks for still following me, reading this story, reviewing —I have taken mental notice of all the suggestions and criticism— and providing awesome feedback.

I hope that this chapter was not confusing or boring as I plan on preserving the original elements from the Manga but give it my own interpretation, such as Indra`s legacy from this chapter.

Until next time, hope that this update was worth the wait.


	16. The garden of forgotten tears

**::CHAPTER 15 - The garden of forgotten tears::**

* * *

His slick ridge glissaded through her folds reveling into the tightness and warmth of her body as she froze under him with her orbs petrified by gleaming lush tears aligning with care curve of her cat orbs, lips gasping for air.

An intense pressure welled within her hips and inner walls as Sasuke stretched her with one fluid thrust going as far as her body would allow and she froze at the sudden intrusion of his masculine body, filling her completely, deliciously to depths that were almost intangible, unspeakable and sinful.

Sakura`s heart hitch into her chest, lower back deeply arching deeply because of the sudden fluid penetration, undulating like an injured swan trying to escape her hunter, involuntarily allowing his engorged member to slide through her inner walls even deeper. "Ah!"

The sensation of his full hard penetration was breath-hitching and searing as she didn't have time to adjust or get enough aroused to accommodate him and his lavish girth as Sasuke stretched her suddenly, forcing himself inside as he impaled her deliciously rich, both groaning and moaning for different reasons.

While Sasuke`s reeling mind was succumbing into an unexplainable frenetic fervor stirred by how tight, warm and soft she was throbbing and clasping around his erect skin, wrapping the bulky veins running along his length pumping blood and hormones that were burning blissfully huddling into his loins, Sakura felt her flimsy body being torn in half by him, her nails leaving angry moony marks into his sculpted shoulders but there was no pain huddled into his skin, only fire and pleasure.

Sheer desire, blinding carnal lust garbing them into a lavish coat of sexual tension mingled with an indescribable chemistry and an unexplainable sensation of _breaking_ this fragile creature and _possess_ her in dark sinful ways that normally wouldn't amass into his delirious mind, traversed through his mind; but somehow he was aware that someone else was pulling the strings of his limbs and thus tried to sneak into his mind and maneuver him like a puppet.

But the reason why Sasuke felt the unexplainable temptation to indulge into that demonic spellbind was as unexplainable and idiotic as it was irrational.

For the first time in his life, Sasuke actually felt the savage thirst to _fuck_ this Priestess with abandonment, rough, merciless and animalistic without caring about what _she_ felt or gained in return –not caring about the teardrops of this angel.

" _Ah_ —no no stop plea—" Not in the bit did he mind about how dry she felt when he pulled backwards from her core not minding how her walls clasped around his manhood almost painfully, dry and rough and completely not prepared for him.

With a fluid winding motion onwards, he thrust inside of her again from a sharp angle that allowed him to feel every inch of her being pierced and forced unhinged, adoring the way her tight aperture stretched almost painfully for his sharp thick head to glissade through her lattice folds until his heavy balls, full of semen that wanted to sprinkle inside her smooth body, tapped against her nether lips eliciting a strained moan at the skin on skin contact. "No! Sasuke! Stop— _stop_ please! You are hurting me Sasuke—"

"—you _don't_ honestly want me to stop Sakura." His lustrous voice felt like leather and wine shivering along her skin as she trembled at how intense and baritone it sounded like the temples of a string bass guitar; his words encasing all the truth.

She withered into his arms and moaned brokenly when a searing sensation of a honed blade lacerations her skin twined with that delicious pleasure caused by the friction of their skin glistening through sateen skin when Sasuke flexed his hips to retract form her and then slide back inside her passageway in a sharp rotation of his hips, reading and taunting a ridged spot inside her that immediately rinsed her as milky lush juices seeped and coated his vigorous member, getting more and more aroused by the minute; the mild pain caused by the lack of prior stimulation withhold and that aching desire to quell the pressure bubbling in and down her core becoming unbearable.

How could something ache and burn in so much pleasure feeling so good, so amazingly divine was beyond her, or maybe her body wanted him so desperately so as every iota of pain delivered by Sasuke was in reality perceived as the most blissful sensation.

She wanted him but not in the way he started to thrust inside of her; animalistic and with abnormal abandonment like he was truly jut an aroused male whose manhood craved for the juicy feel of a woman to satisfy his lustful desired –but nothing more than simply physical.

It was not like their first time together in terms of feelings, but it was definitely more passionate and _hotter_ in terms of what he was doing to her.

There was an electric fire enkindled into her belly at the way Sasuke was feeling her with hard deep thrusts like wanting to dominate and control her, while she was helplessly whimpering and sobbing silently unable to stop him; he noticed in his reeling dazed state that Sakura wasn't even opposing him in anyway, nor did she tried to stop his advances despite her writhing into his arms and burning around him, her body only starting to get slick as he continued to pump and dab against a certain spot on her walls that was ridged and rougher than her smooth skin and made her gasp silently her orbs filling with a glazed layer overlapping her lucent tears.

"Why Sasuke… why are you doing this to me?" She blubbed brokenly as his lips showered her skin with blind kisses, barely aware of where he was touching her or how.

It didn't matter what she was saying because that dark monster welling into the depths of his mind lurking and taking control over his senses was howling in pure sickening pleasure; her skin –a glazed porcelain honed by a fine jeweler—was savory delicious, succulent and ripen like a peach, a young woman with tempting peaks and soft rounded curves but still so young, so unpolished and exuding an irresistible vestal atmosphere that left him blind in lust for her, tasting her savory skin, as perfumed and fruity as she was –that soft cherry blossom that was only his.

"Hm… such a delicious taste of _innocence_." He preached the feeling of her brushing over his own fire scorching skin, whispering dark desirous things into her earlobe as his lips nipped on the yielding skin making her shiver and moan softly into his shoulder, where her face was buried inhaling the spicy peculiar of his smell, one that was ravishing, masculine and amazing beyond belief.

"Sasuke… it hurts… you are… being too harsh…" She wanted to plead with him to be gentler, to thrust slower inside of him because his amazingly gifted body was too rough and his penetration too deep from that angle, but pleasure started to amass into her belly, steadily pumping through her hips and spine in ripples of bliss and adrenaline.

Her body language was a musical inside her respond reciprocate to covet for his inch of his sateen body listening to his melodies and chords, heart thudding into her chest in unhinged furor, but her mind reeled into a tempestuous objection; Sakura did _not_ want him like this when Sasuke was _not_ on his right mind, when lucidity dispersed from those austere obsidian orbs, now replaced by dementia and _ambition_.

"Am I really now?" His moist lips sprinkling butterfly kisses along the cord of her pulse and downwards to her shoulder as his digits slid down the fine fabric of her kimono were liquid chocolate and flames rolling along her skin 's her breaths grew more laborious with every move, every thrust, every kiss. "Know that I am _not_ a gentle man, _Sakura_."

A virgin tulip like creamy perusal powdered on her cheeks and chest as his tongue started an interesting sojourn down to the valley of her breasts while his hand unwrapped the obi that kept her clothes securely swathing her flute waist.

Trembling hands sinking into his sculpted chest tried in vain to push him off her but his lissome frame was marble statue unmoving or maybe it was _her_ the one who tried to show him that she had the will not to submit to him while her body was fragile and impotent to move him off; but his body and the man in him perceived her inner message feeling the _woman in her._

Every inch of his firm sateen skin grazed her throbbed walls and each time he thrust forward pumping deliciously deep inside of her, letting her get drunk in the man that he was and perceive even inch of his penetration, very meaningful, slow and precise, sharp but quenching the pain that nearly subsided, stretching her to ways that remained trapped on her gasping lips, all kindled something profound and primal inside of her that Sakura couldn't ward off.

Sakura didn't know whether to feel pain, pleasure or panic because this wasn't the Uchiha Sasuke that she has met; the one who took her innocence away –the mindful, composed, stoic and gentle Sasuke, no.

There was an abnormal fever jarring inside his tauten muscles, simmering in the heavy droplets of perspiration creasing his alabastrine skin as he grinded against her and the drowsy look in his animalistic eyes –obsidian orbs that made any woman weak in her knees for him. "Oh! Sa—suke—!"

A light lament seeped from her chest everytime his tip brushed past her moistened filigree folds traversing her glistening opening with almost no barriers between them and the more she became his, the deeper he had her, the more she felt him scribble his soul`s imprint inside her heart, was giving her a trifling fallacious sense of _protection_.

Her mind however didn't fall prey to that derisive temptation; she did _not_ entirely trust him but Sakura could not stop him either. A conflicting plight huddled into the vaults of her chest where her heart ticked manically with abandonment; she felt so _weak_ for him not only in physique but in spirit too.

This couldn't be sinful and vice couldn't pervade this intimacy, it felt to good too right and essential to be with Sasuke, but the shame and disgrace that she brought on a sacrosanct place that now filed and ebbed with the sound his growls and dark desirous whispers, of her moans murmuring his exquisite name erotically, loomed around their united forms.

To Sasuke, it played the catalyst to passion seeing her reticence and innocence vanquished by him, basking into the lucent of her pristine eyes that now tinged with a twilight blurry stores day glazed desire for _him._

Bestirring her to give herself completely while every pump of his member glissading easier and easier inside her tense body overwhelming her with his girth, with his masculinity and power exuding from every inch of his lithe physique, he nearly chortled darkly when her body naturally fell in rhythm with him, arching deeper and deeper with every thrust to take in more of him.

 _Responding to him._

As much as he could go, reaching spots inside her walls that had her body wrap around him in indescribable friction so right, so good to be true like she had always been designed to be always _his_ and no one else's, like Heavens have had her preserve her treasured purity to offer it to him. "You like this Sakura, don't you?"

It almost kindled something frivolous and presumptuous his cold chest when the confirmation remained lodged onto her parted lips, trembling in exacerbated pleasure, but the madness frothing between his temples obscuring his lucidity and clear vision hindered those fitments to overflow his mind; his heart ached for her to _respond_ to him instead of silently let bittersweet tears to percolate from her vitreous orbs in sleek shimmering rivers.

His lips skimmed upwards her cheeks following the contours that they left on her opaline rubicund cheeks whispering hotly. "No don't cry like this _darling_. Don't cry if it is not from pleasure." he had no idea of what has just unrolled form his lips bit her moistened skin felt aphrodisiac on his mouth.

A fleeting searing sensation burned inside her body when his engorged member glistened through her engorged glossy folds stretching her core, but when his vigorous creamy soft body filled her in one fluid precise thrust spanning deeper than they both expected it, a nameless feeling of connectedness and incredible warmth, belonging and love had suffused through Sakura`s body, coddled into the depths of her chest.

A lyrical soft moan unfurled from her lips as she gasped at the sensation of his body stretching her smooth inner walls, muscles throbbed and sheathing him inside –refusing to let him go.

Every inch of his manhood was sturdy, virile, beautiful and lean sculpted like the work of art embodying the ideal of a man, the sublime in nature's beautiful creation as a gift from above, overwhelming her with the amalgamation of new sensations spanning along her spine as Sakura arched against Sasuke blinded by dark explicit desires that he evoked inside her; murmuring in a beatitude of endearing lust, his name. " _Oh_ —Sasuke..."

Fine hands made of glass and porcelain were blindly searching for connectedness as they spanned over his sculpted shoulders and smoothing along the underside of his tauten biceps, trying to moor to whatever figment of sanity and cognizance has remained untouched into her relying mind.

Electric flames frothed into the depths of her core, simmering through her body in convulsions and throbs of her inner walls as he filled her body inch by inch with his vigor thrusting indie of her in torturous slow, hard and deep strokes of his hips, flexing and undulating between her spread wide thighs.

Searing miniatures of dancing embers of fire were rolling in spheres trailing along her skin whenever his velvety fingertips were sprinkling ardent caresses along the sateen of her curves, designing intricate patterns along her pristine frame and sketching the perfect representation of a woman's beautiful ineffable and eternal grace.

Even as Uchiha`s mind was swathed in veils of obscurity and dancing on the limbs of a tortuous dementia and villainous sinful desires, his own body was being naturally enchanted an attracted by her imprinting every swell of her lustrous forms as they arched and burned under his touch –she was still frail and kosher fragile and he was _breaking_ her.

His masculine body sliding through her nether folds –long, sturdy, velvety and engorged with blood running through his loins— stung her like a bee`s needle as she froze momentarily whenever his penetration impaled her; she sobbed silently between her moans at the still alien sensation of his body sliding inside of her.

"No! Please stop Sasuke, it—ah!—it burns!" The searing ache tearing her inner walls in half was uncomfortable and sent a jolt of panic along her spine, her lament brushed past his hypnotized ears in a gust of a wind; he was far to absorbed by lust and desire for her perfumed skin and her tight delicious body clasping around his member so amazingly _hot_ to notice the beads of tears frothing under her eyelashes and spilling along her rutilant cheeks.

Nonetheless, a warm sensation started to pool into the pits of her belly like a heavy knot of flames constricting inside her then sinking downwards along her passageway residing into the bundle of nerves coating her clit while Sasuke`s generous girth rubbed against the bud of milky skin, the friction incandescent.

"S—Sasuke s—stop not — _ahhh_ — not _here..._ " Au contraire, making love to her in a place notorious for its sacrosanct symbols made it all the more symbolic and profound, and Sasuke also realized that the Shrine which stood erect above the surface as a liaison between God's and people was also a fallacious construction encasing occult enigmas that dwelled into sin and immeasurable powers, and thus there was nothing remotely holy in that place; nothing but her.

Her rose soft thighs that were being kept spread open by his hips throbbed and trembled while her lips quivered like lotuses blooming when their petals have been sprinkled with droplets of cool water, murmuring his erotic name between suspires and sobs.

Briskly, Sakura turned her head over her shoulders, pert nose brushing over the fabric of the pillow as she eluded one of his kisses; his lips met her delicate chin instead nipping on it then skimming along her throat and cupping her pulse between his canines grazing it then suckling on the throbbing vein.

"No _no_ Sasuke s-stop please I don`t want _this_!" She did but not in the way he _demanded_ it possessively, taking her like she was a prisoner with no voluntary will or feelings; he was calloused and rough, nearly animalistic thrusting inside of her tight aperture like forcing his way inside, not encountering too much hindering or protests by a pretty docile Sakura.

" _Sasuke_ ," His name hurt and ached into his chest but he was far to absorbed by the aphrodisiac fragrance of her skin melting under his lips and the way her warmth offered him that plenitude that only a lover could give, filling the empty cup of loneliness with honey wine and affection.

Sasuke reveled into how her juicy core was being syphoned by his hard member, slick and wet, hot and milking him while his continues thrusts stretched her flimsy body; he could feel it in the friction of his tauten skin that she was not ready for him and yet, she wasn't pushing him out of her.

On the contrary, she would have stunned his more rational side with how Sakura`s nails dug into his sculpted shoulders holding onto him tightly, like he was not the same man whose hips hit her ferociously and his body sunk deep inside of her, blind and deafened to her whimpers of protest; this was _not_ the way that he should have made love to her…

It was in the moment when she tightened her embrace around his shoulders and sunk her digits into his raven locks pressing herself onto his chest with her cheek buried into the junction of his neck and shoulder has Sasuke realized that her face was soaked in teardrops glissading from her squeezed shut eyes –because he was _hurting_ her.

"Sasuke please—" Her voice was a shivery lament trimming to his conscience as it faded in and out of his mind. "please… let`s not do this in _here_ …"

Still lodged deeply inside of her, Sasuke glanced skywards to try and focus on the source of her voice flittering from her syrupy lips, realizing that he was gumming on her taut nipples, licking and suckling on them like savoring Pinot Noir grapes popping them onto his lips and enjoying the honey taste of aphrodisiac.

He was not aware of his moves and he knew it –but he couldn't control himself. "Where then?" His voice was soaked in sin and slightly guttural and troubled, and not his usual silkiness without missing any note.

" _Where_?" His growl was feral and demanding, possessive and dominating and never faltering from expressing his urgency and the carnal desires –she should be flattered by how thirstily he wanted her but now she was slightly terrified and panicking because she felt that someone was perturbing his mind. "And when? Hm?"

Sasuke was never harsh or calloused and so out of control, albeit his hips teetering erratically and pumping her in rapids strokes, going deep inside of her –impossibly deep—penetrating her from a sharp angle that made her lower spin arch deeply whenever he thrust to the hilt, started to feel good, tantalizing the heavy knot inside her belly as it bobbled up and down, the electric pulses traveling along her inner walls.

"Ah! Sas—Sasuke—Sasuke please—" Her plea was half-heartedly while he made her feel so wrong and sinfully dirty, but so _good_!

Her nether folds were slick with juices seeping from her core as he rhythmically pumped her frenetically stretching her smooth tight walls deliciously as the friction between their conjoined bodies grew in waves of rippling bliss percolating along their limbs and spines and nourishing the indescribable unbridled sensation of being complete and belonging to someone and somewhere.

"Sakura," He finally responded to her please rewarding her with growling her name while his lips were sprinkling chaste kisses along her jawline; droplets of honey and vanilla poured on her luscious skin.

"move for me _angel_ ," he beckoned darkly, his voice an effervescence of velvet and cognac mingling with intoxicated insanity and sin, hitting her at an angle that sent shimmering starts erupting under her eyelids. "dance with me. You are making me go crazy with your skin, with the beauty of your warm body, with how delicious you feel around me Sakura. Don`t you realize _what_ you are doing to _me_ when you are like this… so incredibly _pure_?"

It was the first time when he was being so vocal, so expressive, so descriptive but he was still not being vulgar or make her feel cheap and used as an object of pleasure. "It still — _oh_ — hurts a bit…"

She complained sincerely, moaning and sobbing like a young pure angel falling prey to the temptations of the decadent Paradise, holding onto him in despair sobbing into his shoulder as his raven locks brushed past her cheeks tickling her.

"Can you be… gentler please?" She pleaded with him as his member burned inside of her walls pumping both pain and pleasure towards her; but she only wanted to remember that moment when senses became synesthesia and everything melted into liquid pleasure without any tinge of pain. "Please…"

The grazing between lustrous skin rubbing against her own as she clasped him in throbbing clusters applying a breathtaking pressure on his engorged member increasing everything he lodged inside her and glissading easier and easier with every passing minute in fluid sharp thrusts ad he penetrated her from an angle that allowed him to massage a ridged sweet spot inside her walls.

Turbulent electric jolts of pure pleasure jarred along her spine and the inside of her thighs, euphoria spanned through her body like a spider`s silk web until she shimmied and tossed into his arms, her throaty pleas for him to cease down his act metamorphosing into desperate cries and keening moans, begging Sasuke to quell that painfully blissful fire that amassed into her belly.

A tight knot bubbling up and down through her passageway amassed into her nether inner muscles, possessively clenching around Sasuke's firm member as he felt every inch of his skin tantalized and stimulated by her oddly responses, caging him inside in indescribable friction, perfect like she was fit to accommodate his blissfully thick girth —as suave and tight ad she was— unfolding and blooming like a delicate flower before from thirsty blind eyes.

This Priestess revealed all the beauty of a young woman to him and welcomed him inside her maiden body to traverse forbidden barriers and carry her on limbs of pure rapture in ways that only an Uchiha could; her spirit was so pristine, pure and angelic that Sasuke could even see it _now_.

"Gentleness," He growled while he stoked and caressed were liquid embers of fire poured like melting fold and honey against her skin and the same dulcet invaded her and coated her lips in a delicious chocolate and wine sensation when his sensual lips captured hers and pressed against her own.

Succulent lush aphrodisiac seeped from his lips, coating Sakura`s poppy petals, kissing her openly with depending veracity and wet strokes, but nonetheless ravishingly hot as her moistened lips were slick with juices the sound of win wet hitting skin was erotic and mentally arousing; she turned into melting sensations undefined an impossibly to describe in words. "you want me to be _gentle_ with you…"

But how could he fulfill that promise when the demons spawning into his mind made is thrust more urgent, sharper, _deeper_ and his penetration full and hard; from that ample angle he felt even bigger and thicker than normal and it was barely what her tight virginal body could comfortable accommodate. She was yet to be used to his well-gifted body, but Sasuke was adamant into changing that.

It was only then when Sakura realized that Sasuke has been incredibly delicate and caring with her when he deflowered her, somehow being aware of how well-endowed he was as a young man, how masculine and how strong so that he took his time to have patience with her and filling her in with precision and caution readying every sign of her body language not to cause her pain; but this time, his moves were erratic, more lupine, more abandoned and less graceful. "Please… Sasuke—"

"—No," The smirk creasing his fine lips raveled along her spine when they tapped on the shell of her ear, nipping on it briefly before sheathing between her own, cupping her pulpy lips with hard strokes, kissing her deeply, fully tasting her mouth possessively as she moaned through that kiss with pleasure lodging into the pits of her belly and chest.

 _Oh Kami_ — _how his kisses felt… how could he be so deliciously good?_

His tongue laved every crevice inside her hot cavern, tasting her luscious skin, literarily adoring how sweet she was, so pure and ripen, so delicious with that amazing cocktail taste of melon, syrupy peaches and dark cherries, still so incredibly chaste and never touched by any other man but _him,_ only belonging and giving hers chastity to him as a precious regal –her body was an untouched temple, she made the act of lovemaking so symbolic, so meaningful, so important and incredibly phenomenal.

Blood simmering into his veins mixing with hormones and adrenaline, amassing into his loins and sac while he ached for her to cup his balls everytime they bounced with his feverous thrusts brushing over her nether lips.

A twiddling need for her silken inexperienced fingertips to touch him, to traverse every delineation and every tauten peak of his strong body lodged inside his chest; he actually _craved_ for Sakura to be bolder, more curious, to explore him fully with shame, _burn_ him with the touch of a maiden being initiated into the act of being with a man like that; withering and moaning into his arms.

He wanted her to _desire_ him just as much as he desired her.

"Ah! Sasuke—" She had an enrapturing manner of moaning and whispering his name with beads of lust and feeling that drove him over the edge; every single sensation was enhanced to the paramount of bliss traversing along her spine where euphoria pooled and ached to be desired.

She felt everything in the embrace of that intimacy highlighted by the contours of that sensual red obscurity with nuances of jade gold and royal red of the ornamented walls and the penumbra with the silvery storm searing outside.

Every iota of his firm skin grazing and rippling over her own, the firmness of his masculine body penetrating her in firm motions, point bliss the to quench the pressure into her body as it amassed into her belly and throbbed within her core and she wrapped her hands around Sasuke's back, feeling his muscles burn under her touch.

He was hot as he moved inside her, grazing her smooth walls as his depending penetration filled her body deliciously, his girth brushing over her listen slick folds and the sound of juicy skin brushing and pumping against his own was amusing and coming to her in waves of rippling bliss.

"Sasuke please—" She begged with a murmur. There was a nub inside her lower abdomen that traveled low between her thighs in a pleasurable pumping constrictions, wrapping around Sasuke's firm member as it clenched around of him emailing the friction between they bodies, liquid fire, chocolate, incredible, perfect and intimate, erotically and so natural. "it hurts Sasuke—"

Her chest constricted dully at his lack of response, of communication while he refused to acknowledge and form a connection and the prospect of being just _fucked_ by him on the grounds of her Shrine, a sacrosanct place, the realm of Kami-sama on Earth was grotesque, immoral and mentally disheartening.

And the need to release, to quench that constriction within her lower lips and into her slender belly was even worse than any silent words sealed on his lips.

But what could he tell her when that thick veil of fog swished from his mind and his orbs were now clearly bathed in the reflection of the tears still streaming in silent susurrations from her jadeite orbs?

That the guilt he felt while causing her pain was cremating him worse than the alien new powers invading his veins and now flowing through his chakra vessels? That he had nothing to say but to her because he would never admit it out loud how much he _cared_?

That every bead of tear appeared like a tear of blood seeping from his own heart? That he momentarily took _pleasure_ in sadistically savoring how he took her merciless, possessing and owning her without caring about her feelings?

The warmth pervading and churning inside where chest at how he completed her making her his was undefined and on a whole other level than his thrusts inside her. She felt complete and the connectedness between them was marvelous and stupendous, but at the same time… she felt conflicted there tousled amidst the pile of crimpled garments littering the floor, shimming helplessly into his arms.

She had no words to describe the sensation of being so close to Sasuke, canoodled in his arms and feeling the crests of his sensual sinewy muscles ripple above her as his glossy alabaster skin was like silk and velvet oriental veils brushing along her own skin.

 _Even like that it still felt… right._

It was like the gift of fire form gods to humans how he kindled her fire with his own, his dominant element stealing every smidgen of ration and strength.

Sakura didn't have the power to fight that plethora of sensations, it felt amazing to have Sasuke so intense and personal, so intimately forbidden lodged within her tightness albeit she tried to refuse it and argue with her own self that this was so remotely _wrong_ and she has double-crossed the Village for both disclosing the secret of the Chakra Fruit to the enemy in addition to giving herself to him; her vestal state was not a figment of blood mixing with the grass and the murky soil where he first made love to her.

"I am a sinner—" she whispered upon his lips when they loomed over her own as one by one, his lavish petals cupped every remains of her tears touching her cheeks gently in tiny rivers. "Sasuke…"

"And I am a demon," He smirked as his exacerbated arrogance swelled into his perspiring chest squashing the curve of her rounded breasts with his carved pectorals, silvery-obsidian orbs gleaming like honed blades as down casting to her drowsy ones.

"What a good _pair_ we make together, my _angel_." Her heart missed a tick whenever he dropped that appellative albeit she was positive that it was pejorative.

She was nothing _his_ for him to use endearing words and yet Sasuke found it so fitting to roll out of his tongue, marking her as his.

Taking her right hand into his own twining their digits together, Sasuke did the most affectionate gesture by flipping her hand and placing a lingering kiss on her wrist making her shudder and the new sensation. "Sakura,"

Her orbs reached upwards to meet his own finding his expression more lucid now but still soaked din lush desire.

"you are not fit to be a sinner. _I_ am. But you are so vestal, so innocent with your ungainliness and your tenue,"

His knuckles grazed her forearm making her skin prickle with shudders. "your foolish illusory affection towards me…" She sought a meaning into his sudden outburst of delicacy.

"… with your endless naivety…" Haphazardly, she met his kiss halfway needing him like an addict missed the daily dosage of drug, while she listened to his confession helplessly praying that it came earnestly. "you make me want you even more, darling."

She kissed him desperately lurching into that oasis of pleasure conjured by their hips that fell into a perfect sync and the way she wobbled her hips forced him to go deeper inside of her, glissading lower and filling her in as the sensation of being complete travelled along her inner walls, smooth and yielding as they throbbed and clasped around Sasuke`s rich manhood; the pool in her lower abdomen turned into embers of fire travelling on her chest and along her inner milky thighs.

Tongue skimming along the curve of her mouth, savoring the juicy taste of her succulent full lips, suckling and locking them with thirst like savoring a ripen pulpy peach, nipping and massaging them expertly and hungrily with an unusual fierceness, so hot, humid like a tropical storm and irresistible.

Uchiha never kissed her with so much carnal and lust full abandonment like truly coveting for her taste, for the softness of her perfumed skin, so sateen suave and yielding to the touch.

"Sweet," He praised the beauty of her now swollen lips, stroking her tenderly, sensually licking them. "such a sweet tempting mouth..."

His mind burned while envision her lips cupping his lush girth and sucking his member as they were slick with saliva and satin soft.

But he couldn't demand something like that from her; at least not now. She was still a novice learning about the wonders of living outside the chastity of the Shrine and Sasuke and no interest in rushing things up because _forcing_ her would never have the same taste. "Kiss me Sakura. Let me feel your lips tasting _mine_."

His tongue unrolled past her parted lips probing his way inside as she tapped his lip blindly trying to get those of his aphrodisiac euphoric taste and exchange the fire that simmered inside his body, tentatively trying the water with the tip of her toes unlike him who darted inside flickering and inviting her to play along, dance along, _taste_ the desire revving and churning inside him on her own skin. "Mnnn—Sasuke— "

Hands were flying and venturing all along their bodies searching and caressing curves, hard muscles and tiffany feminine contours.

That was too much the air welt electric, oxygen was insufficient, his touches wee melting lava traipsing in minuscule rolls along her skin urging in bliss, her most nether lips felt heavy, throbbed and aching in pure bliss as his thrusts revved, her hips shooting up to meet his halfway as he sunk deep inside her, deeper than before with every fluid penetration. "Touch me, angel. Touch me with this hands,"

He dabbed every digits form her left hand against his moist lips kissing them softly then placing her outstretched palm against his lean pectoral and, still keeping their digits twined together tightly, her palm glissaded down his ribs and traipsing to the expanse of his sculpted eight pack abdomen.

Every peak, every crest, every sharp strong aperture of his washboard abdomen rippled with power, glistened with sweat like melted snow following the contours of that mouthwatering desirable body; he was perfection in shapes and manhood, so beautiful and virile.

"Beautiful—" she marveled while his thrusts suddenly turned melodious and poetic, _slow_ and rich, gasping silently when that uncomfortable sensation of him thrusting vigorously inside her metamorphosed into a new sensation of plenitude and _warmth_.

"you are so beautiful, Sasuke." She declared between glazed orbs heavy with liquid. "What am _I_ to you?" She found herself wondering, pleading with him as he stared at how she leered at him longingly.

His obsidian orbs were enticing, hypnotic and veiling how his heart ached dully. "Prisoner."

Wordlessly his hands cupped her sensual derriere, fingertips pressing into her yielding skin as she shifted into his lap, letting her hips slid along his straight thighs as she nuzzle din it his arms, coiling her hands round his shoulders and neck.

" _My_ prisoner." He played with the words telling her what she wanted to hear so dearly; that this is not _just_ sleeping with him; that this was not _just_ a wanton meaningless act.

"Oh— S-Sasuke what… are you doing?" The position naturally brought them to the swell of intimacy as their chests glued together uniting the fire scorching under their sweaty skin.

Sasuke's hands were caressing her gingerly but possessively passionate, deliberately massaging her shoulders and skimming along her hands then sliding along her ribs and back massaging her spine and purposely avoiding cupping her breasts as she leaned forward gluing her cheek on against his sculpted jaw, sighing silently in pure blithe reveling into the sensation of having his teasing digits be decking her to skin with pleasurable calescent shivers.

"Sas-Sasuke... " His breaths were ragged and stammered mirroring the same tumult in his racing heart, thudding through his chest and pounding against her own skin ad she wrapped her right hand around his left one guiding it from one wading her hip one and lower back up to her slender sculpted tummy and up to enfold her pert breast, his expert long digits squeezing and kneading the mound in sensual strokes, just like kneading airy warm dough between his expert palms. "Ah!"

Sakura's inhales were staccato and irregular as her chest burned and constructed and she was left with no oxygen only floating on maddening and euphoric limbs of nirvana.

How was it possible for something to feel like this? To _make_ her feel so good, so right, so complete and so organic, so come to warmth to surrender entirely to a man?

Her cognizance dissipated into that synesthesia of subdued rations and overflowing temptation and bliss and thus Sakura hadn't even noticed it that Sasuke let his palm descend in a sensual dance along her belly, using his other hand to squeeze her ass cheek firmly as he lifted her hips up into his chest, cupping the swell of his girth to adjust between her legs, his dripping milky soft ridge gliding between her nether lips, and pressing her done to ground him bringing her even closer —impossibly _closer_ — to thin, locking her body with his. "Sakura."

" _Argh_ — Sasuke... Oh Good Sasuke! " Her voice broke into a guttural moan as Sakura took a full fist of his ebony sateen hair arching her neck as her orbs were lustrous and squeezed shut, shrouded by pure desire, by desperate _need_ ; emotions flittering inside her like butterfly wings that Sasuke didn't know he had.

In the moment she undulated her hips against his pressing hard onto his lap exuding desire and _longing_ his member naturally smoothed along through her passageway until the distance between them melted into a sensual dance.

His penetration was long, hard and unexpected knocking the dine of her burning lungs and her heart teetered along her throat literally missing a beat; the pressure in Sakura`s chest grew, the mechanism ticking in vain like a broken pendulum refusing to count down the moments of time albeit the fine wheels continued to work with precision.

"Ride me Sakura. Move for me angel." She had no idea of what Sasuke asked for in such a descripting way somehow still sounding sensual and not in the bit vulgar and libidinous, but the sensation was magnified. "Stop being so _shy_ with me. Let me be _yours_ tonight…"

He actually couldn't believe it himself that something so… downright _romantic_ vied his standoffish tenue in lieu to disclosing something so private for his heart; but those endearing epistles unrolled from the tip of his tongue before Sasuke could backtrack and encase them in a vault securely once more.

"I… I…" Sakura was not prepared for that cocktail of sensations coursing through her body as there was not smidgen of pain or discomfort, only pleasure a blissfully pleasure that almost pained and burned her alive and she melted into his arms like hot steaming caramel, abandoning any eminence in not giving herself to this man.

His hands were touching her everywhere and still not enough. Oh— how badly Sakura wished to just _die_ right her in his arms, with him, take this man into the afterlife for revenge and when they crossed d the Styx river together as foes, they will stop being two enemy souls and every single trace of lingering animosity will turn into that burning sinful passion.

 _Sin_ became her only hope for redemption, Sasuke was her Lethe water to satiate, to forget everything adjust like now.

This is how he mad when acrimony metamorphosis into pure pleasure, delicious bliss with those touches. And she _did_ correspond to him, letting her demure hands, shy and inexperienced but kittenish and curious traverse the crests of his pectorals, his own tempestuous heart ticking under her warm palm; reticently proceeding with caution at first afraid not to break this picturesque image of his beauty, her plush fingertips stroked his muscled arms, his strong shoulders and his washboard abs, mapping his exacerbated perfection in pure bliss.

How fluid and natural his hips swung and upshot firmly relentlessly to meet her as he guided her hips up and down his own setting a sensual tango between them as her lean navel slid up and down his sculpted abdomen, bodies swaying against each other steadily like a boat rolling along the silent waves.

Drenched by the plethora of euphoria churning inside her body, Sakura dug her nails onto the creamy crimpled sheets of the bed, delicate appendages desperately tucking the soft brocade fabrics in painful pleasure, knuckles turning lilac at the pressure she was applying, as her hips and Sasuke's were sliding together into those indescribable spirals of bliss bolting along their spines in electric shivers. "Oh— Sasuke!"

Her lower back was arched deeply like an arcade of a Gothic architecture while Sasuke's digits were wrapped firmly around her flute waist marveling at how incredibly rail-skin she looked but still having delicious feminine curves, thrusting inside of her steadily and smoothly while alternating his pace to sharp changes or angle, upsetting his firm hips up and taunting spots inside of her body, so irresistibly and impossibly _deep_ and fluid that had her screams freeze onto her quivering lips as she nipped deer lower lip tossing her head on her sides and raising and moaning in pure delight.

A sateen hand glided sensually along her lace slim abdomen sliding down to where they were intimately joined together and then traipsing in ample circles along her ribs and supple lively breasts massaging her like painting her in oil watercolors, squeezing her pert mounds while his hard masculine body kept on gliding in and out of her, shaking and rocking her with those electric thrusts pushing himself inside if her until she saw stars.

The sizzling pressure within her hips, that fire and energy ball bubbling up and down her stretched inner walls percolate into her lower back dissipating in waves of hysterical pleasure undefined.

Sakura`s skin shivered in response to his strokes, his lackadaisical touches, and goose bumps filled along her arms.

Her breasts felt lively, oversensitive and prickling, bouncing as she glided up and down his erect member, grounding her hips down his sculpted thighs, while her nipples tautened and ached to be savored, to be suckled hard and massaged with his abrasive tongue.

Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment while she tried to formulate how should she ask for him to suckle on her erect nubs and smother the tingling pressure as they tightened, begging for his lips` touch. "Sasuke— please…"

Sasuke's name was dissipating through her pores as it was written in desperate meals and throaty feminine moaned from her lip rewarding and welcoming sensations rolling along her entire body that only _he_ could elicit.

"Sa-Sasuke... Ah— fas—" The knots in her belly churned with ferocity dissipating that incredible electric sensation throughout her body.

Uchiha kept on syphoning a certain deep key spot inside of her walls that sent jolts of electricity rippling waves traveling along her limbs; erotically.

Words and coherence were hit by the sweetest oblivion everything his hands pulled her hips to slid along his own going depending inside her, deeper with each delicious pump, filling her with his body until there wasn't any iota of distance left between the most, no sweet spot left without being caressed, rubbed, and delivered. "Tell me what you want, _angel_."

The fragrance of sweet slick flesh pounding and grinding against one another in carnal friction was out of that world.

Sakura was helplessly squirming into his arms ad he kept her a prisoner of this pleasure, with his crossed long legs folded in his lap, ankles supporting her arched back made that position very intimate and erotic in terms of submission.

Her right hand blindly sought for contact to his skin, brushing over his knees and cupping his left hand rand that was massaging her ribs tickling and delighting her.

The rug underneath her felt calescent and turned into melted lava burning her spine; she was all fire and sensations drowning into Sasuke.

Sasuke would have chuckled heartedly at the way she was looking for more closeness, more connectedness to him but it wasn't much that she could do in that position albeit it allowed him a deep full penetration and he could stimulate her pearly clit with his unoccupied hand rubbing on it frenetically rubbing in it when he guided her right leg from bring bent on her sides to latch to his chest.

Sliding the tip of her tongue along her wine petals, Sakura leaned onwards to chastely tap her lips against his own, brushing him with a trembling ardent kiss, nipping on his lower lip; smirking in sheer amusement at her innocence, Sasuke let her kiss him delicately, inwardly knowing what she wanted.

How she wanted him to touch it simmered inside his own body naurally, ancestral and organic like a soothing carefree dance under the rain, like a lackluster sashay through emerald meadows kissed by dew droplets in July morning.

His forefingers cupped the peaks of her rose nubs gingerly rubbing the nipples with satin strokes, only eliciting pleasure trembling along her spine; her response was immediate reverberating hotly through their sealed lips, echoing as an erotic low sound sinking down his throat and making his own chest rumble; oh Kami— how _that_ felt for the aroused Uchiha.

Her spine arched into his palms as they spread flat against the curve of her breasts, kneading her pearly skin with the underside of his palm and his fingertips; they fitted so perfect into his hands like _he_ has been the sculptor of this goddess, of this angel.

"Argh- ah _ah!_ Sasuke…! _"_ He knew how to interpret her body language; that mysterious transcendent language that her skin was speaking the language of it porcelain roses in bloom.

"Do you like this Sakura? Does this feel _good_?" By the way he really throbbed and squeezed around him tight nearly making it impossible let for his body to stretch her and accommodate him determining his thrusts to be mess smooth and rougher and sharper firmer, he knew she was close to nirvana. "Does _it_ feel good now?" _Yes, it did_ , because in the moment when ration and lucidity warded the delirium off, his finesse and grace unwound again, precise, splendid, _amazing_.

His lips were dancing along her body moving in perfect synch with his fine strong hands, leaving miniatures of dancing flames rolling along Sakura`s damp glossy skin in their trail, skimming over her shoulders, tickling her ribs and her slender back of a delicate lamb.

Creamy long gazelle legs were gently guided around his firm hips, wrapping around the curve of his hipbones and straddling him tight, with literarily no means to escape from the bodily sensations of strong forbidden lust.

Dark desires that shall never linger around the holy atmosphere to a Shrine now bounced from their dancing bodies.

Expert calloused hands scurried along the back of Sakura`s now bent knees and slender ankles rounding the fine bone, then kneading her lively breasts that begged for attention glimmering with beads of perspiration leaking from her strawberry blonde locks, the map of the sky encrusted on her fulminant skin.

Her two mounds, round and perfect like two moons caressing the back of Sasuke` massaging palms, made her arch and shiver under his simmering touch. "Ahmmm—" A guttural moan knotted into the back of her throat when oxygen melted into flames, turning lush, heavy and erotic; Sakura could not even breathe, actually.

That was too much… _Sasuke_ was undefined, indescribable… heavenly! The _demon_ swathed in the cloths of Paradise to cajole her soul.

His lips suddenly found hers in a passionate tango, tongue dabbing against her peachy lips gliding over them hotly, seductively, expertly flickering over her upper lip tasting the taste of purity and lustrous of an angelic young woman, then rolling temptingly inside, mingling and brushing her own cockily inviting her to taste him, wreathing around her own and leading her into his mouth where he danced with her that chocolate and fire tango and she responded to him drowned by his fire.

Sasuke`s kiss was stormy, wild and wet, like an unleashed hurricane whirling in turbulent spirals inside her mind and the same energy was now wrapping her in a sheath of passion and pain. This was an idiosyncratic trait that was explicit and irresistible in Sasuke.

"Mmmnn…" She mewled in pure aphrodisiac when he reciprocated and let her kiss him on the content of her heart in a clear sign of reciprocating and connecting to her and to not simply take what she didn't want to give voluntarily.

Just sleeping with Sasuke would make guilt froth inside her chest and the culpability feeling was churning inside her in waves of repulsion as she knew she should have preserve her treasure, her chastity and never entrust it to a man, but this was Sasuke and it felt so _special_ , so meant to be, so natural and never right.

Somewhere into the core of their lovemaking, Sasuke had fleeting moments of completely lucidity evoked by Sakura, by her presence her familiar perfume, the same look in her lost eyes –emerald scared orbs that _trusted_ him entirely that he wouldn't hurt her— and thus she helped him cease away that thick blanket of darkness, but not entirely to make him stop.

He wanted her so much… Kami-sama he _wanted_ Sakura in ways that he would have never imagined himself desiring something so ardently. "Sakura,"

Her name coated in rich wine and spiced with a hint of sin felt so erotic on his lips as he murmured it through their intoxicating kiss. "You are mine Sakura," He vowed it, decreed it, _demanded_ it hotly, possessively almost desperately. "only mine."

It awoke both the instinct of woman to _tend and protect_ him while last was carrying her along the rivers of overflowing passion seeping through her body while she arched against him in helpless bliss. "Sasuke…"

Without questions words that remained frozen upon his luscious lips were sound and cleat muttered from his stormy eyes. "My _prisoner_ , my priestess, my one and only…" _Love?_

This beautiful, unique big sapphire eyes gleaming and swallowing the light, scintillating and beguiling her. The words receded from his lips, shying away; he could _not_ have feelings for this woman, he did _not_ but…

Sasuke was captivating with his defined beauty, with the passion in his eyes, with the striking atmosphere and dominating feats.

This was a man who was born to _dominate,_ to posts, to play the strings of anyone's mind like a violin in his skilled hands, charming and having _everything_ he desired.

Having _her._

Sakura praised to all the heavens for this no be just a derisive dream, a nightmare entombed the object of her most passionate desire, a man who gave a meaning to the paradigm of _love_ and fulfillment and now facing his fallacious eyes —so hard and so unfathomable- an unmistakable sentiment de coursed through her entire being warming her chilling chest in that familiar way of staying before a scorching fireplace in a frozen December with a cup of Darjeeling tea and surrounded by lights, scented candles of vanilla and cinnamon and the beloved ones.

She _loved_ him so errantly from the pits of her quintessence, so natural, so simple, so essential like they were drops of dew belonging to the same sky.

Now that the mask have dropped and broken porcelain venetian masks in this hallucinating carnival, she realized that her life was just as fragile and the tears aligning elder the curve of her cat eyelashes; pearls refusing to spill from their vault, tears that betrayed all this immeasurable evergreen affection that she had for the man.

The torture we telepathic and reciprocated twice in intensity by Sasuke who felt it through his senses how exactly Sakura was feeling. The desire to savor her lips in an embrace of his lips and vie that solitude remained locked in that glance he gave; no one but him would understand.

Her pain was his, it trimmed deeply into his heart, it broke him in pieces in fragile crystals of sand; her eyes were the same as in his memories. The shade of jade and sand so regal, so luxurious and expressive and shimmering of live for him.

Her lips sought desire in his own begging, weeping and burning for the taste of his kiss. There was so much sparkling magnetism between them but no one noticed from the throng of people around, no one but the two of them it was their capsule of intimacy, their own heart-jerking love story. "Oh Kami-sama— ah!"

The fire in her lower regions, the throbbing of her inner walls rhythmically clenching around Sasuke as he pushed that delicious tight sensation of having a bundle of knots rippling along her passageway residing heavily into her now moist nether lips made her orbs roll into their sockets; that pleasure was indescribable.

 _He_ was amazing, delicious, masculine and strong. Beautiful.

His lithe back flexed against her as his lips sunk into her own and captured her into a zealous deep kiss, tongues grazing lips and exchanging desire and unspoken words, while Sakura traced her nails along the planes of his sculpted muscles in mindless hankering, wading into the pinnacle of pleasure as he delivered her body and her spirit and thinking became an illusory dance lost through the maze of her seductive moans.

Never would have Sakura realize that Uchiha Sasuke was so elegant in bed even though his grace was not hindering the effluence of passion in his moves, but she only guessed it that someone who was almost royalty by blood could hardly gall into the category of a rebel and a savage beast.

Judging by his notorious bloodcurdling reputation as his name was only whispered in trembling fear as he passed everyone by leaving his fearsome name engraved into the trails of blood and the ghostly spirits of the victims that fell prey to his terrible skills and the merciless gleam of his kusanagi blade against their throats, Sasuke should have been a possessive brute and a mindless criminal, with the same superficial overview about such intimacy and connectedness. "More Sasuke— please more… I need…!"

But he was actually capable of summoning such intimacy with just so little effort that it was amazing; even when he wasn't actually his normal sober self, Uchiha Sasuke had the potential to be a desirable lover without even realizing it, or maybe his savvy brain was overfilling with such juicy details and subtle nuances as he kept on ingraining distorted images about his real purpose into her brain, coating it in such captivating gestures so as she would fell prey to his beguiling words and blindly trust in into disclosing trust like the one she should have kept encapsulated into the depths of her mind.

Of course that in her defense, Sakura could always defend herself against any blame coming from the ones that she betrayed that Sasuke has used his Sharingan to peel the layers about her mind and find out the truth and no one would ever doubt, but the worst pain trimming her chest came from her own critic nature as she was suffocating with the guilt and remorse of having to disclose something so precious to someone whose evil genius was doubled by his incredible ability to overwhelm, charm and hypnotize someone with just one single right word spilled to her at the right moment, serving her what she longed to hear on a silver plate, using white gloves to mask the blood staining his hands. "N–N– st–stop S–Sasuke–"

"—hn," His inflection seeped with liquid chocolate and a subtle hint of mockery, but the back of her mind resounded with alarm that he was _not_ in his right mind.

"why wasting words to try and fool me into thinking that you are not enjoying yourself, Sakura? It is not even funny, really. Albeit, I can think of some ways for you to entertain me if your desires are so ardent."

"Sasuke… no—"

"–hush," He silenced her darkly, softly but there was so much sin sewed into those chocolate and wine lips as his smirk gleamed in almost a sinister way as he was the perfect embodiment of a dark angle in captivating beauty and corrupt desires, guiding her hand along the contours of his abdomen gingerly letting her slide down his body in resonance to how her mind was sinking to a pleasurable oblivion and her heart was pelting against her chest like a thunderstorm cloud sending electric jolts along her spine when he slid their joined hands along his vigorous body.

"stop trying to play the saint here, Sakura. My bed is not Paradise and I am definitely _no_ God."

Oh— how wrong he was in addition to him being egoistical, brazen and trenchant words were so ridiculously arousing and so fitting for someone like him who had all the traits and feats to back them up, Sakura noted.

Emerald orbs halfway shrouded by her flittering lids as she allowed her senses to spike up and send her to Nirvana, she felt her hand start to tremble like trying to touch the embers of a fire, tentatively and still shaky at the concept of how fire would harm her and burn her skin albeit she knew that the concept was only a trickery of her mind trying to protect her, when Sasuke dragged her hand along his length, wanting to shriek back from him but at the same them feeling every iota of her body combust.

"No stop… I can`t— oh?" She blubbed in complete embarrassment, his digits wrapped securely against hers —albeit not _forcing_ her in doing something awkward and uncomfortable to her, guiding her along the length of his virile member, as much as her delicate digits could encompass his girth when he pulled back from her core.

The bundle in her throat constricted painfully and a salacious thirst suffused into her mouth when his slick skin left a trail of their milky combined fluids on the back of her palm. "Oh— it feels… so soft… and w-warm!"

Rubicund cheeks flushing virgin rose when she glanced between their copulating bodies, seeing it so explicitly how he slid through her creamy lips, her hand brushing over her naval and Sasuke`s toned abdomen, but incertitude and reticence recede at the contact of his secure warm hand.

He was giving her a confidence that she never had.

Indeed Sasuke felt so silky soft like touching cashmere and lace with her fingertips, warm and vigorous, lean and perfect like every inch of his body exuding a virility that left her throat dry in the moment when an explicit gesture of her lips lowering along him and tasting the masculinity on his own skin fogged her mind and she tinged with a rubicund blush in perfect embarrassment and shyness and she made the mistake to steal a glance to his eyes, desperate to see what was crossing through his mind.

Inwardly, she sought for a connection, for acceptance, for cohesion and cooperation. Sakura wanted to moor onto the concept of intimacy and find assurance that Sasuke was participating into this act fully and he was not only being superficial and selfish only seeking for his own pleasure; she didn't want to be a tool to his unfulfilled fetishes, a sex toy to bedeck his bed and keep it warm whenever he chose to use it.

She has once again misjudged and underestimated him. Sasuke slowly pushed her back onto the tatami floor where the opulent fabric of their scattered clothes, never once glissading entirely out of her warmth; he never wanted to leave her gooey tight body, she was more incandescent than the fire scorching into the small fireplace.

When ration and lucidity has been returned to him, he truly did start to make _love_ to her in that poetic way that she desperately desired; Sasuke rapidly understood that Sakura was not the type of woman to want to be taken hardly, to be fucked senseless until she couldn't walk straight or even scream his name, no _never_.

She wanted to _feel_ everything and more than just physical. "Sakura," he demanded sensually, arrogantly, _delicately_. "Touch me." Briskly, he started to pump her slowly gingerly but still deep, so _deep_ making her arch against him bonce with her hands possessively treaded around his muscular back.

"Sasuke…" Her creamy folds were slick with juices as she melted against his touch; his tongue was flickering and gliding along the smell of her nether lips then sensually flicking over her pearl yielding clit as she whitened under him both wanting to get away but stay and endure that torturous bliss.

"Touch me…" What he did to her felt so good that it physically hurt. She had no control over her limbs only a paralyzing pleasure was churning into the pits of her belly showing straight through her inner muscles and throbbed on her core. " _Feel_ me with your own hands Sakura…"

She felt so wet, so moisten and her skin was sweet like a peach, luscious and warm like an exuberant exotic cocktail beckoning the demon in him to succeed to those dark desires that he was vividly envisioning for her.

She complied; small palms spanned along his back skimming downwards and reaching as far as she could; her skittish fingertips sunk into the plush skin of his sculpted derrière, smoothing his cheeks while his muscles flexed with every lurch forward.

Things that Sasuke would not even imagine when he was lucid were now frothing inside his blood, amassing in his loins regions as his mind was slowly shutting down to let those wishing sensations in fusion of culpability and bliss pervade his brain.

He was not even trying to fight them at the moment and the only harm that he will die as to taint this white dove in the color of blood and turn her furs into the sinful shade of black velvet.

Stripping her of her silken chemise was similar to unraveling Pandora box of pleasure. Sakura was a gift a reward a captivating prey to every sinner like him.

So delicious to his touch while her feminine taste lingered on his lips that were stroking her openly shamefully in ways that made a blush span over he cheeks and earlobes, but it felt beyond divine; sin suddenly felt delicious on his lips.

Sasuke wouldn't want her to be scantily clad or more seductive, no. He adored her pure and pristine because she looked so feminine so soft when he made love to her, when she was his girl, the young demure angel —barely a woman and still a child, an adolescent with blushing cheeks.

It kindled inside the man in him the desire to dominate her and possess her as his manly instincts were primal and raw and made passion meet its apogee.

She did a bold gesture by cupping hid face and arching her new to kiss his lips and instead of eluding her kiss, he embraced it and happily greedily reciprocated. "Mmnnn…"

Lips met in fusion of passion desperately dancing and tasting soft flesh, while desire was written in their eyes.

He kissed he wrist then encased her digits one by one sliding up and down as he suckle the trembling appendages, her skin shivering in delight; no matter how he touched her or kissed her with those lips, his fire was cremating her self-control reticence and difference and transcribed her shyness with desire aching.

His kisses trailed along her kiss no matter where he touched her —everywhere without boundaries— were like a warm fire rain pelting against her body.

"Say my name Sakura," His voice was aphrodisiac and sin looming from the twilight in chocolate waves. "Say my name or better _scream it_ for your Kami to hear you."

"No _no_ —" She pleaded with a broken voice while every inhale was accompanied by a keening whisper rippling from her arched chest and she jolted with every thrust inside her, chests pressing against each other intimately, palms connecting ardently in despair and lisps searching for a connection. "—stop Sasuke we mustn`t… this is _wrong_ –ahmmm—!"

Her shimmering tears were shimmering like pieces of broken pieces of mirror crystals, reflecting her earnest feelings of amour.

A thumb skittered along the streaks of liquid flaming tears grazing her cheek with finespun touches as he placed butterfly kisses over her cheeks. "No…" He argued gently, vehemently. "it is not wrong Sakura."

Then pecked her lips in a long chaste stroke of chocolate lips, the sound of moist creamy lustrous tears echoing above the pelting whispers of rain droplets, percolating atop a crystal mirror then trailed along her throat feeling her revving pulse and the ferment of her heartbeats thrumming against his tongue.

"Sasuke... Y-you are sick," she murmured as each syllable turned into sinful moans; her shimmying digits moored of his rich hair as Sasuke showered her chest with thin kisses, following the swell of her breasts while his hips hit her in slow deep pendulations gliding inside her in hard thrusts, stretching her smooth tightly-folded walls deliciously giving her that amazing sensation of being fully, complete, warm that was compared to nothing in the world. "ahmmm—"

"—Yes I _am_ sick Sakura."

"—you're not being yourself... "

"Then who am I?" He pressed, an exacerbated diffidence sprinkling from those amaranthine orbs when he tilted his head to map her.

" _Who_ is the one who you are making love with now Sakura? Hm? "he nipped her ear lobe and she shivered in response gasping everything he glistened inside her. She felt so hot, so goosey and creamy that Sasuke lost his mind completely in lieu of that taxing blinding beatitude.

"oh— I don't — _ah_ — k-know—" probably the sharpest sensation that made her shudder and spasm uncontrollably was the feeling intense moment when his girth stretched her core, that small aperture yielding and moist like ripen peaches and tight and still unaccustomed to having a man going inside her gliding through her engorged folds the sensation alien, new and overwhelming, weird but incredibly _amazing!_

That bottled up pleasure now hit her in electric waves and Sasuke found a perfect angle that knocked the wind out of her lungs with every hard thrust, dabbing a rough spot inside her walls that left her orbs glazed and blinded by lust sprinkle with star dust, while erotic moans came melodious and desperate fueling his desire.

"You like this don't you Sakura? Tell me how much you like sleeping with me. Admit it how much you enjoy the feeling of me going _hard_ ," he emphasized by resting on his forearms and flexing his thighs to gain more momentum and strength and she gasped silently choking on air. "deep,"

His voice aggravated slick and dropping with poisonous chocolate, dark thick and coated in last, nefarious and demonic but sexual and delirious delicious and masculine. "all the way up to the hilt."

* * *

He lodged himself firmly inside of her as far as he humanly could go and hit her hard until lustrous tears be fogged her vision and whether it was in pain or bliss or both she didn't know but it hurt so good that she lost her mind. "AHH!"

Trembling into his arms like a caged Phoenix Bird glittering it's wings to soar and get free she quivered and writhed uncontrollably with her back arched deep as his well-endowed manhood naturally glissaded even deeper inside her and her walls immediately loosened so as to welcome him inside like he was always meant to fit, to fill this void. "Ohh! Sasuke!"

That same staggering sensation of returning _home_ surrounded by warmth, love and joy in the arms of the beloved one, the sensation for bring compelled send connectedness to someone was phenomenal; the paralyzing pleasure had been topped by the sensation of astounding plenitude; a scorching fireplace blazing in a frozen December in complete gratification surged them both in unmistakable waves.

The sensation rippled even further than physical pleasure itself and _this_ was the moment when hearts swelled and reverberated like the cadence of a pendulum's limbs hitting its final hour.

She wasn't sure of what Sasuke has growled ferociously when he found bliss at the same time as her, because the sudden bolt of her orgasm spiraling inside of her like an electric sphere amassing blood, energy, adrenaline and hormones left her be numbed, with her mind flask and incapable to reason, senses roaring like a storm haywire, pulse expediting as her muscles throbbed and convulsed but she was sure that oxygen was somehow ventilating her lungs despite her stopping breathing entirely; she went deaf by her own cries in pleasure.

"Sakura…" He possibly growled her name lowly, weakly but sincere with unhinged desperation as he clung to the memento of her name and anchored of that phantasm, making sure that he wouldn't lose her amidst turbulent waters. "Sakura…"

A pair of sturdy arms slid behind her shoulders and gathered her in a snake tight embrace as his canines sunk down her round shoulder; she felt no pain only bliss and this sensational dazzling connection to him; even if she want sure that he was himself then.

"Sakura—" this time the tinnitus in her ringing ears, the harsh gasps fusing with the storm outside and the large rain droplets drumming against the windows in gusts of wind making it hit diagonally and sharper as nature itself has come to life, but the sense of protection and warmth into the shelter of the Temple felt even better and relaxing ; that calm in the air as rain drummed like a soothing meditation and solitude enhanced the sound of heartbeats and harsh gasps for air.

Silence spiked up the senses to finer perceptions, more subtle sounds of natural its an open invitation to receive and imagine all the sounds like blank canvas to be painted in all the colors they wanted.

Listening to heavy rain falling and lulling sound on the front porch, Sakura`s mind felt calmer, in obsolete synch with nature purer as she felt devoid of any negative thoughts but focusing on it; she flinched involuntarily when a violent bolt hit close to them briefly illuminating the entire area in a deep pink radiance and she flinched forgetting about Sasuke; his presence became that familiar to her. "Oh!"

His arms around her squeezing out of reflex to _protect_ someone vulnerable and fragile and endearing made her feel seated by warmth and comfort.

Her nails grazed his biceps as her orbs locked with his; they are what and confused but more lucid albeit he was sweating profoundly and had his alabaster cheeks now tinged with a rose shade breathing hardly laboriously.

He was still firmly nested inside her refusing to pull back; lackadaisically, slick juices streaked along her thigh with their combed essences as Sasuke spilled his semen inside her, combining his warmth with the fire frothing inside where body.

She was at loss of words to describe how _right_ that felt, how organic, natural without any barriers between them only nature and two secret lovers.

It could be a twisted fairytale of hurt and comfort. "Sasuke?" She cupped his cheek with her right hand gingerly stroking his face while whispering to him, brushing his damp raven locks out of his face to see him better. "Why have you—"

Haphazardly his onyx orbs that were already trying to stay awake squeezed shut and his head fell on her cheat limp without aliasing anything in return.

His protective hold around her back loosened and his muscles suddenly relaxed as silence and the cadence of rain met her ears, how would and empty without his warmth. "—Sas— Sasuke? Sasuke wake up!" she shook his shoulders adamantly detangling her limbs from his hold, getting no response.

* * *

Could he have... "Sasuke… Sasuke what happens?" her irregular heart revved in adrenaline as her bliss from the earlier orgasm turned into anxiety and her ragged voice filled with worry.

"Sasuke? Sasuke! Sasuke please respond!" With a surge of strength in her lackluster muscles, Sakura detached his arms from keeping her caged in his embrace and slowly pushed him backwards shivering uncomfortably when his flask member slid from her body, immediately missing his warmth when air hit her sensitive moist core.

"aish—" she nipped her lower lip to prevent a moan when a sudden soreness burned her nether lips, rolling them over. "no way he could have fallen asleep could he? His fever went down a little... He is not burning and sweating like before but... "

she murmured embarrassedly now worry vanquishing her shyness, pressing a palm on his temples and forehead —it was still incredibly calescent to the touch. " now what do I do? We are stuck in here for at least two days with no way to go back hom— to _his_ house, "

she corrected herself fleetingly, but a pang in her chest clenched. The stillness dark in the room felt alien and less familiar to her.

" what am I thinking about? This is just _sex_ and nothing more; he did this for his _own_ pleasure because I am his _prisoner_ and nor for other reasons... " this is not right and you know it her inner flared up bristling at her denial."... Still..." she stroked his cheek and automatically he leaned into her touch.

He has been _gentle_ with her, caring without causing her pain. She liked making love to him, she liked his presence, she didn't perceive him as danger, a threat or disgusting.

It had a meaning that she current understand and he even reiterated it making it valid that Sasuke made _love_ and not slept with her like a concubine in a deluxe brothel.

She was tempted to trust and believe him because she knew that Sasuke was not a philanderer, a macho, a manslut.

If only those heavy droplets of rain could wash away her shame and disgrace for staining such a sacred place and giving herself to him would be perfect but then again she has heard that love came as a storm and sacrifices must be made to preserve such treasure.

Sakura already felt unworthy of her role and now that she failed twice by sleeping with an enemy and disclosing the secret of the Chakra Fruit to the same man was a free ticket straight to the underworld.

Stroking his cheek delicately as she rolled him to lye supine, sheathing him with the blankets and folding the rim on his chest, murmuring as her long hair spilled along her shoulders and covered her nude breasts, smiling softly.

"I gave you everything I have _Sasuke_ ," With a suave caress her fingers tucked his ebony hair around his ear seeing how his parched lips were slightly gasping and snoring lightly and his mien was pickling with perspiration enabling the alabaster shade of his skin and giving it an external cold blue shade similar to the _moon._

"but... You also told me about the Uchiha tablet and the Chakra fruit. And you swore to unravel the truth about your family too. That was also important to you right?"

She revealed everything out of trust because Sasuke promised to tell her his secrets in return but... Will he still remember it when he wakes up?

Can she hold him accountable for the not disclosing anything if he was under the influence of whatever transgressed his mind? "oh Sasuke— you changed my life forever in the span of few days..."

And she wasn't sure whether it was for the better or for the worst but what she truly did know was that her heart changed; she started to feel something beautiful and warm for this man and that was the thing that loomed into her mind as she hastily got dressed and tiptoed secretly out of the room and towards the bathroom, her heart accelerating and her senses revving gazillion miles per hour.

Paddling swiftly and inconspicuously so as not to disturb him, Sakura slid the shogi door open closing it silently and strolled along the narrow dim lighted hall tucking the folds of her kimono close to her chest feeling a lackluster sensation looming over her due to the loss of adrenaline.

But the plenitude of her spirit and the abundance of warmth still lingered as she couldn't help but feel her eyes moisten; the back of her palm brushed under the curve of her cat orbs as she stepped into the bathroom that resembled a miniature of an _onsen_ spring steaming, befogging the slim filigree mirrors bedecking the rocky walls.

Carefully so as not to slip with her heels on the wet rock surrounding the pond with steamy thermal water oozing from the mountains through underground pipes siphoning into her temple, Sakura tapped the frothing surface with her toe as she let the loose kimono glide from her ski.

Flippantly she submerging into the bubbling water until the hot level rippled about her shoulders immediately making her moan in delight as it overwhelmed her senses. "Hmmm…"

She let her limbs paddle lazily to the other side of the dazzling pool where she got a glimpse through an oblong window peeping outside and the mental relaxation with the shelter cushioning in warmth inside and the unleashed lightning storm outside glancing to the majestic peaks.

Exhaling deeply letting her senses soak into the balmy water, the steam powdered her cheeks with a rutilant shade as Sakura run her palms along the crown of her hear and brushing it backwards, draping her jade orbs with the back of her palms. "Oh kami— what do I do now?"

No matter how much she has jeopardized everything and got it all wrong, now she had to find her own road to follow and this seemed to entwine with Sasuke's.

Now she had another purpose making inroads to adulthood namely supporting someone who proved to be more than an enemy to her and the village.

And Sasuke has only been sincere to her —more than sincere he was contradicting in his tenue. Up until now hasn't treated her as a prisoner at all, on the contrary he cared for her like a — _lover_ —someone who mattered something to him.

"…but what?" This everything that transpired between them and the tumult that came with this energetic man overwhelmed her entirely; leaning her nape backwards atop a pile of cotton towers folded neatly at the edge of the spring, she sighed softly glancing skyward, thinking, pondering about her purpose now…

An astounding traditional ornamentation made of colorful pieces of marble and painted glass reflected the warm ethereal light spilling its iridescent shades in reflections of jade, bright red and royal gold, murmuring intangibly.

"What do you want from me Sasuke-kun?" she hummed that suffix of amity but shook her head as her heart leaped into why throat making her pulse accelerate like cosmic energy charging through the darkness.

It had a weird and unfamiliar resonance like it had never meant to resound _just_ prim and platonic. They were _not_ friends… they can _never_ be friends or comrades.

"Sasuke Uchiha... I wonder what the of pain has he experienced in life?" she couldn't help but let her mind sail through the plethora of loneliness and emptiness gleaming into that amazing ones shade of his eyes; draconic and blood curdling to see but beautiful beyond words when they reflected light and warmth —when they portrayed _humanity_ and vulnerability.

This is the Sasuke that Sakura was slowly starting to nurture sentiments of amour for; the one who stepped down from his intangible pedestal and actually exuded vestiges of longing for warmth, weakness and glints of dormant affection, the one who needed someone to care for him and love him as much as _she_ needed someone to quench the loneliness. Loneliness…

Skin rinsed in lukewarm water and bubbly oils was rippling through the water as it tinged with a milky silken texture as she soaked her glossy skin and hair and submerged into the water letting it invigorate her senses.

It did less than nothing to erase Sasuke's smell from her skin or the shameful soreness between her thighs and his lingering touches from her skin loomed painfully _alive_ in the front of her mind. "Sasuke… my _captor_ …"

Diligently, Sakura coddled her skin with all assortments of balms and oils of exotic fragrances; paddling outside the pond, she swathed herself in a prim lily of the valley and wild roses kimono, garbing her diaphanous form with the simple yet sophisticated short lengthen garment to complement the alluring tableau.

The picture of her so iconic, so suave, so pure. Kittenish steps skimmed out of the bathroom and back to Sasuke, finding him lying supine in the same position with his shoulders pressed against the embroidered blanket, looking like a Crown Prince trapped in a deep slumber; definitely younger, more relaxed with his forehead less creased by wrinkles and beads of perspiration and... more _handsome_ as the peculiar coldness and fierceness in his powerful eyes now melted into the limbs of sleep.

Approaching him like looming clouds obscuring the moon silent and delicate without making a single crack into the wooden floor, Sakura traipsed to the sleeping Uchiha observing how he had such rare moments of lowering down his armor in front of her so that she could clearly limn the sincerity simmering into his soul transcending the portals of his mirror-like stygian eyes and allowing her glimpses into his heart.

Her iridescent orbs luminous like a rainbow glowing after the rain were searching for his inquisitive ones, her introspective tenue seeking for a liaison to him, and understanding of his kinetics, of his words full of enigmas but yet oh— so clear, so deep and calculated.

Yet they still churning into her head and the sinister hollow thunderous sound of silence's most vipers demons were tempestuous and difficult to pervade to see the underneath; reach the real him that was so vulnerable as the shield around him was protectively fostering him and coddling him in a fallacious sense of protection but he was bleeding just like her.

Sakura's rational part dropkicking into the back of her mind alerted her to stay away from those prim blooming sentiments imbued into her mind by this Uchiha man, now brimming profoundly into her conscious; he was a broken soul, an empty wraith residing into a cracked shell and the emptiness in his eyes was visible and painful to watch.

She didn't feel pity for him because Sasuke was hardly someone to inspire such thoughts and feelings but she felt empathic with him, she felt his pain.

She _accepted_ it, acknowledge it and she felt a strange magnetic pull to heal him, to take away that darkness from him and unravel how genuinely pure her spirit was.

Sakura would never knew that his childhood days where a plethora of jubilance twined with mirthful exuberance all courtesy to him being surrounded by love and family.

Because now Sasuke was tremendously antithetical to his present distant and cold self and Sakura with her innate intuition and the feelings she senses emerging inside whim, crawling like sinners trying to escape from the Purgatory holding with their skeleton hands onto the edge of the calescent pit of lava and begging to be enfranchised.

"Sasuke," Her melodious voice was twined with emotion and tremors of affection in her tone, gingerly almost _lovingly_ brushing the margarite of perspiration off his damp forehead and temples, cooling of the vestiges of frothing fever, slowly crystalline rivers of water seeping along his sculpted face.

" _how_ can I help you find your path again? What kind of monstrosities have those beautiful insightful eyes have seen when you ventured into touching the _forbidden fruit_? And more importantly... What kind of mystery has loomed above your family for such a long time? I wonder if you are truly going to tell me everything when you wake up... "

Sakura knew how ardently Sasuke behold the secrecy compelling his family but he was a honest man and albeit he was an enemy who killed the great Sarutobi Hiruzen the Hokage after a formidable fight, she trusted him. She has given a part of him, she gave herself as a woman to him and he did the same to her as a _man_.

She felt so connected to Sasuke like his very alabastrine skin was pulsating in the same frequency as her own. "His fever has tapped off..."

Sakura kept on deliberately brushing his forehead with delicate strokes, his temples, then his shoulders and neck and chest in slow circular motions caressing him with the cold soaked cloth, following every sinew, every muscle ripple under her touch. "he is so beautiful..."

He regrettably missed the dazzling smile of pure beauty and innocence angelic blooming onto her glossy lips as she glanced at his face and physique.

Then she shook her head vehemently trying to elude such preconceptions about him, as she run the soaked peering fabric over his sculpted arms mindful not to wake him, ashamed of the trail of her own shameful feelings; how could she as a Priestess nurture such wistful thinking of sin.

And she failed to notice how a pair of lackluster dizzy onyx eyes tried to focus on her face and follow on the motion of her hands smoothing along his fever out skin cooling it off; and the first thing that his reeling mind perceived was gentleness and affection.

* * *

"Sakura," She halt with a silent gasp startled by the rugged inflection of his shivering baritone, emerald caressing intense obsidian. "what... Happened?"

His tone was dry and rough as well as his parched lips as he moistened them feeling his innards simmer painfully; Sakura stared at him absorbed, sensing that his ration has come back to him albeit he was visibly drenched off energy.

"Water," the tip of his tongue glided over his lips as he tilted his head to stare at the woman with pristine features. "I need water."

Immediately her digits encompassed the clay cup that preserved the taste and temperature of the crystalline cols pure melted snow seeping from the crests, outreaching it to Sasuke as his arm fumbled to reach her. "Here, can you hold it by yourself?"

Her creamy tone was a diaphanous caress sin the wind and Sasuke focused on her moonlit visage for an outré reason. "Let me fill the cup for you... Be careful not to spill it."

Seeing that he had struggles in keeping the glass steady as his hand fumbled nervously uncontrollably, Sasuke immediately brushed the bottom with his palm and held his nape to a precise angle so that his athirst lips could tap against the rim.

Immediately his senses invigorated in the contact with the tasty liquid, silently demanding another one; she poured him all the content of the carafe in silence; shockingly he was the first one to shatter that thick quietude between them.

"Where are we? Stygian orbs flickered around then returning to Sakura noticing the subtle details as his vision became less murky and more accurate." Is this your room? "

"Y-Yes," she nodded energetically, nervously, adjusting the pillow under his nape and helping him lay supine without stretching any muscle wondering whether he remember anything from the previous experience. "You had a high fever that has diminished. I did my best to cool down your body and make the fever recede. How are you feeling now? ""

"My head hurts and my muscles feel sore… like I've just fought with someone and got Chakra depleted entirely."

"Chakra depleted?" She chirruped in mild confusion; her orbs drew on her creased forehead while she brushed the droplets of cool water from his sculpted chin, helping him lean backwards onto the pillow. "Can't you feel any Chakra in your vessels right now? "

"Hn," A crooked smile curled on his thin lips, mocking her. "this is a good opportunity for you to grasp the chance and attack me while I'm incapacitated and running low on Chakra."

His epistles hurt as a tinge of revolt sting like a bee`s needle piercing her skin." Wha— what are you talking about Sasuke, how can you think that I would ever hurt you especially when you are sick and weakened?"

Her orbs were filled with care and genuine worry. She took his hand gently only brushing his appendices and rising his fingertips tentatively; he flinched instinctively from her warmth and care evading her touch and implicit feelings like she was lava burning his own skin.

Why did he feel so… _weird_ in her presence now? Has something happen while he was… not his own self and his mind clouded reeling in that tempestuous obscurity?

"Tsk, " he turned his head from her _hurt_ forest-green orbs like a capricious child, fleeting glancing around her bedchamber.

In reality he felt befuddled, disoriented about the common sense, perception, ration and... pretty much everything; he hardly had any memories flutter through his mind, but the feeling of Sakura moving against him and how she felt wrapped with him when he was inside her, having her intimately into his arm sands moaning because of his body rippling inside of her, stretching her petite body and unclasp the sealed pleasure inside of her struck him hard and he nearly gnashed his teeth together; remembering everything playing so vividly into his mind like a forbidden dance; and he didn't want to have such memories that would commit him to her involuntarily. "eternally a naïve woman."

He… oh _Kami_ — he couldn't believe that he slept to Sakura… again. Again! He desired her again even in this foster circumstances… what the heck was _wrong_ with him?

"How are you feeling now Sasuke?" She tentatively placed her palm against his forehead but the incessant look in his eyes made her shy away from him like he burned her. "Oh! G-Gomen ne—"

"—I`m fine…" He clipped half-heartedly to pry her off him and keep her at a distance rather than actually feeling better; everything in his body felt heavy, throbbed and ached like he climbed all the peak up there, depleted of any strength and yet… there was an abnormal alien **power** bubbling inside of him like a latent volcano ready to erupt anytime threating to take over and spill into his body that Sasuke could not explain.

"You scared me terribly with your unexpected fainting, Sasuke." He would have smirked at the way her cheeks flushed because she elegantly eluded telling him that he fainted into the most heated moment of their lovemaking, but he felt too confused because of what happened prior to their passionate moment to play the gentle lover to her.

"What happened exactly? What are you feeling? Sasuke… you have been acting strange since you have touched the Chakra Fruit."

She could see it in his obsidian eyes that Sasuke was hiding something from her but she was not the type of pestering woman to try and force the truth out of his mouth. Sakura simply wanted to help him in soothing that pain. "Forget about it. It`s nothing that _you_ should concern about."

Grunting and scowling as something was displeasing him terribly, Sasuke adjusted the pillow under his nape and lied back onto the tatami rug, tucking on the blanket that draped his sculpted chest roughly exposing it to the pale light in all its muscular splendor feeling a cool soothing sensation in his bones; a sign that his fever has dropped significantly.

Wordlessly understanding that he was too prideful to ask her for another cup of water, already feeling his ego taking a lethal blow because of his vulnerable previous state –knowing that Sakura has taken care of him, tending him with devotion and affection— Sakura meticulously poured him from the crystal liquid and handed him the clay cup and their fingers brushed over each other briefly before Sasuke took it from her and emptied its contents with pleasure, feeling his body refresh.

Sakura silently watched in fascination how elegant he was even when doing such a simple gesture as bringing the cup to his fine lips and drinking the water.

Kami, he was really _gorgeous_. How could any woman _not_ fall in love with Uchiha Sasuke right on the spot when he was all elegance, finesse, royalty and nobility mixed with an astounding power, genius skills and incredible stoicism and austere judgment?

In addition to him being terribly beautiful looking with his striking features –a concoction of noble ebony and pristine marble.

Outstretching his muscular arm for her to take the empty cup from his hand, Sasuke noticed how she kneaded neatly beside him fumbling with a bizarre necklace that he haven't seen before, being quite absorbed by the peculiar shape.

What he _did_ notice right on the spot was how she changed clothes obviously taking a milky perfumed bath whole he was cupped by a dreamless slumber, and the flattering long silken and satin kimono with long folds trailing behind her like a bride`s veil, sewed with historical and mythological scenes and motives of animals and flowers in bride shades of jade, pink, royal gold and ruby red enhancing her exotic looks colliding with the pearl pristine shade of her kosher skin and the strawberry blonde tone of her hair that was cascading gracefully behind her back.

She was absolutely breathtakingly dazzling like that, truly an iconic image of a maiden, of a Priestess whose spiritual purity couldn't be unwounded –definitely not by a demon like him.

Even more amazing was the feeling of having that glowing margarite body nude and sensual arching against him, bathed in sweat and pleasure as she screamed _his_ name in bliss.

Sleeping with that young angel was definitely a bliss to Sasuke and definitely the type of woman that his noble family would never feel ashamed of—

—Wait, _what_ the heck was he thinking about?! He slowly shook his head glimmering twice so as to alleviate such outrageous inutile thoughts of his mind, returning to the present where Sakura was playing with a pendant that stirred his interest.

 _What was he, a pubescent teenager with a flimsy crush?_

"What is that?" He inquired monotonously so as not to betray that he was being interest in the origins of the pendant, succeeding in keeping a disimpassioned façade.

"Oh— this? It is the only vestige relating me to my real past. Otherwise, I don't have any memories of my childhood, apart from what I have been told by my shishou… do you like it?"

The lethargy in her orbs, the kittenish resonance in her voice and how she responded apathetically with an uncharacteristic flippant attitude chaffed Sasuke; why wasn't she zealous to find out about her parents, her ancestry, her home?

Didn't she felt the pressure of that solitude because of how she didn't have any roots to moor to that world, the burning need to _belong_ somewhere?

She was definitely holding back because when she slept with him, Sasuke felt that loneliness in her chest and how she clung to him, succumbing into him and let him fill her body in desperate need to feel the void in her chest be filled in the same way; and it was.

She let him make love to her even knowing that he was not being himself at the moment simply because that feeling of belonging to someone and somewhere conquered the modesty and discipline of her mind.

"And? Are you going to simply going to pander to this fabricated past passively?" he challenged venomously, amazed that she was not reacting accordingly; had it been him in her place, he would have been pouring his acrimony and wrath among the ones who hindered the truth from him.

Shimmying on her legs, Sakura shot up abruptly, sadly playing with a lotus flower; her eyes were brimming with quenched tears and they were so pained, so alone, so ruined and so defeated —a look that Uchiha hated to see on her. "My past... where am I supposed to look for it if… I can`t remember anything? If there is no memory churning inside the front of my mind?"

 _What about the back of her mind_ —the unraveled part that no one but a sharp eye like his could penetrate?

So she did try to inquire about it but her quest remained forever shrouded into an enigma. "How about you ask those who forced you into this slave contract coated in an idyllic mirage?"

Meaning that she will lead him to the ones who escaped him and probably plotted to rebel against the Leaf; Sasuke had a hunch that she was communicating or trying to with her allies but she saw right through his intentions.

"I shall never ask about... no one will tell me this as a… Priestess."

"Then they will have to disclose everything to _Sakura_ the foreigner and not the Priestess of Tea." Which lost her virtue, but never the ineffable; that gift was a blessing from the sky that not even a demon like Uchiha Sasuke could snatch away from her.

She whipped her sad orbs to his face now kneading back beside him feeling the back of her knees teeter and wobble weakly, eluding his incessant gaze.

But a sculpted arm reached for her face, gently cupping her pointed chin between his thumb and forefinger but this time, he was gently doing it so as she could look him in those amazing sabon eyes. "Everyone has the right to find its ancestry Sakura, even you."

Shockingly, she slapped his hand away from her, orbs trimmed by fire. "No!" she shouted to him with a ferocity that was probably quelled under the veneering of the Priestess that she had portray.

But unlike her times of evergreen solitude, Sakura now felt emptier than before, missing her purpose in life and a part of her that has been brutally ripped from her –when she gave herself to Sasuke.

At the same time, an outlandish sensation made her restive in a way she could not explain, like something was fermenting her as she had an indefinable sensation of pure blithe and completion brimming inside her in rivulets of contempt in ways unexplainable; she has never felt like this before and it made her fret.

"I will not fall for your trap no matter how many times you try to provoke me and incite me to spill bits of what I know to you. I know your game Uchiha Sasuke and I know what you want from me, but your little psychological twists will never work on me!"

She finished with a pyre lighted in her irises one that both tormenting him and exacerbated Sasuke and that duality was something that only Sakura could trigger inside him by acting so confounding all the times.

"Your hidden gutsy side amuses me terribly Sakura but I feel the need to remind you about who exactly is in full control of this game." His contemptuous remarks was doubled by an elfin smirk unrolling along his thin lips, obsidian orbs now following her steps amused; she scurried away from him skimming to the window from the other side of the room, her back on him.

Blitzing the human perception with a formidable momentum Sasuke flickered his shadow so as to dissipate into the limbs of physical time materializing before her astounded orbs even before Sakura had the chance to blink as his croaking timbre suddenly blew upon her face appearing in front of her closer than she has anticipated.

"Wha—!"

Taking one unwieldy step backwards nearly whirling on her insecure heel, Sakura tried to instinctively avert from his range of easily having multiple possibilities to attack her –why did she even consider him as a potential threat to her was beyond Sakura– she was still dexterous enough to hurdle a well-aimed punch to his gut but Sasuke`s reflexes were just as honed as his intuition was, immediately reacting.

"Hn." Easily evading her blow in the most humiliating way possible, Sasuke wrapped his digits around her fist to deter her limp blow, silently letting her have a taste of the difference in power between them; and it was not because she was chakra restrained and they both knew that.

But it did not make that unforeseen sentiment of a fleeting feeling of acrimony that she felt for being so inept in front of his conceited conniption nearly focusing her incandescent orbs into a glare paralleled to his hallmark one, grazing her teeth together as a sign that she wished she could be more of a threat to him than a simple revolted marionette.

"This is not the response that I was waiting for but... it does make things between us more exciting." he had the nerve to mock her with a not so subtle sexual connotation and that made Sakura`s innards tremble in both fury and... something else which she quickly brushed off before it became harmful to her heart.

"Do not think so low of me! I am not your puppet toy and nor will you encase my spirit even though you have physically impeded me to use my chakra!" The way her orbs were spilling unswerving words to him was pure aphrodisiac to Sasuke; her hot mint fluttered against his face as her milky vanilla, honey and tangerines perfume broke the barriers between ration and insanity in his mind, making him _want_ her again.

"You are a coward for not allowing me to fight you by using my chakra and thus face you like equals and not be part of your sickening masquerade." Such a shattered ridiculous mask he reduced her to…

"Don`t be so delusional Sakura you were never my equal and chakra restrained or not, you shall know your place," he cocked his head arrogantly, tossing the truth into her affronted visage unfailingly. "your strength will never rival _mine_ and nor are you posing as any potential threat; you are a lost naïve lamb with no direction, no family and no place to return to. How can you compare your status to _mine_?"

He encased his digits around her wrist to obstruct any tentative to break free from his hold on her, but instead of trying to free her occupied hand, Sakura pressed hard on the ground with her heel, upshot her hips and attempted to hit him in the groins with her knee using his hold on her hand as a leverage to gain speed and amplitude. "Do not mock me Sasuke!"

Of course that Uchiha had a radar set on every motion of her body revealing that pleasure was not the only thing that he was capable to give, intercepting her blow right before it hit its target. "You have no pride in your bones Uchiha Sasuke–"

He twirled his hips swiveling swiftly to divert the target of her upcoming blow with a precise calculated smooth twist of his lissome body like a lion with implacable reflexes, evading another fulminant blow from the girl.

The interesting circular low blow would have caught anyone off guard, but Sasuke reacted on instinct, his Uchiha genes being implacable; thrusting his right calf forward to block her leg from hurting him in sensitive places at a precise angle, their legs slid along one another paring her blow. "Hn… nice try."

She briskly side-stepped and her chest collided with his own as Sasuke twined her hand almost painfully so as to make Sakura lose her focus because of the sudden electric impulse of pain and with a sudden screech, she relaxed for a nanosecond which was enough for Sasuke to spin her around in his arms and press her back against his sturdy chest , spooning her like a chrysalide nuzzled in her cocoon, trapping her both hands by locking his fingers around her wrists and forcing them to rest against her chest, blowing into the shell of her ear hotly. "Ah— let go—!"

"—Indeed… I might not have or it could be the fact that the notion of pride in my vocabulary is different from yours Sakura."

The fire in his body fulgurated intense and passionate melting very single iota of her body in strokes of pleasure dissipating along her spine and limbs but Sakura fought to quench the reeling of her mind in response to how appetizing and hot his sculpted body felt pressed so hard against hers and the unexplainable hasten of her pulse when his lips grazed along her neck, breathing again, seductively but loftily.

"But let`s not forget the fact that you are so powerless against me and I am referring to your spirit and not your frail and unstable shinobi skills that you think so high of. No matter how much you try to fight me Sakura, we both know that in reality you just _desire_ me, wanting me again."

"W-Wha— n-no way— I…I—"She perplexed him all right with her next moment of despair fused with a smidgen of fury upon hearing such vulgar declarations pervade the walls of dignity in her mind acting like he was capable to depict what was in her heart and imprudently disregarding her ability to connect to someone deeper than physical and thus Sakura fond the best way to free herself from his clutch by retorting to an approach that he last expected it.

Tilting her head in the direction of where his swift lips were leaving her pumping pulse Sakura captured his lips between her canines blitzing him in speed and the unpredictability of her audacious gesture leaving him impotent to react immediately and realize what her ulterior purpose was, biting down his succulent lips hard and painful until she nearly felt the swollen cashmere soft tissue burn upon her own skin and nearly punctured it until droplets of blood prickled from his lush skin and, taking full advantage of the short momentum of his hesitancy to whirl into his arms and twist his arm hitting a certain sensitive spot around his elbow where his joints and the bundles of fine nerves were not protected by any muscle, taking him by surprise.

"Hmmm…" That moment of electric pain jarring through his body mixed with the sudden overflow of blood burning his temples making his maxillaries clench at the pressure she was applying on his lips, allowed Sakura ample time to side step from his grip, pivoting on her dominant leg and flaring around him like a spiral of smoke, smoothly and elegantly in a brisk motion, using his hand as a leverage to gain speed and momentum. "You bitc–"

Sasuke rasped viciously at her forward move stopping himself from cursing her aloud in ways that will not be characteristic to her condition.

Before he had the chance to twist his hand and overpower her with raw strength, she was already gyrating around him like cherry blossoms dancing in the wind kicking him painfully and sharply in the back of his knee, nearly making him lose balance and shockingly –for both of them– she seemed to have been capable to leak a dainty amount of her chakra into the blow because she made him wobble for a moment, but he was also swift enough to regain composure just in time.

"Ha!" A punch swung around his temples when he arched his back to evade it in time, blocking her flying kick easily with his left hand mirroring her earlier move but this time, his hold on her fine hand was painful and harsh nearly making the elegant bones of her hand crack and her joints to pop, hindering a probably painful punch.

"Ah–" She cut short an agonizing shriek by pressing on her lips hard not giving him the satisfaction to see her submissive and easily defeated –in spirit and body like he presumptuously claimed earlier– and aimed a difficult low kick to his leg with the underside of her foot preventing him to leap and eschew from her attack and use his implacable speed against her as one of his most favorite weapons of choice.

She knew that trying to besiege a Sharingan user –a Mangekyou user to make it all the hardest– was futile in her condition because even with her chakra unleashed she will still be no match for him probably not enough to even give him a run for his money and chafe his pompous inflated ego to the point where she would miraculously managing to land a blow on him by using her Wind nature against his Lighting one.

But pride, anguish and the feeling of being so defeated and million miles apart from him in skill –and spirit– shadowed her ration and her distinctive aplomb and kind nature; this man was so absorbed in his own narrow universe consisting in only him and his hatred, that it made Sakura go berserk in ways that she wouldn`t ever think they were possible.

She had to demonstrate it to him that by physically detaining someone it did less than nothing to imprison his heart and mind as well; the aura, the spirit, the willpower and ultimately the feelings couldn`t be bound by anything tangible or imperceptive against one`s own accord.

"Why are you acting so foolish _Priestess_? You won`t accomplish anything by attacking me like this, it`s all just so futile. It makes me _laugh_ actually—"

"—So what?! Does it mean that I just have to take whatever you throw at me without having the tiniest of dignity in my bones to defend myself and my principles?"

"I don`t get people like you at all. Why are you just trying to test my patience and see my limits?"

"Because I want to know what kind of man you are behind those multiple layers of self-discipline which is exactly the same type of trying your hardest to mask your own insecurities by copying someone else," She didn't miss the sudden sparkle behind the drape of lush raven eyelashes when she bespoke about _Itachi_ and how Sasuke tried to ward off his shadow –in vain.

"just because you are afraid to be who you really are!" Her rant was accusing, painful to watch, to see, to hear because she spoke so sincerely, from the heart and genuinely _concerned_ about him.

"And this makes me step on my predecessors'` teachings and renounce to my precepts, and it`s all because I cannot accept the ignominy to be defeated by a coward like you!"

"Nani?" He was seething from every pore trembling in rage at her implied insult. "You called me a what? A coward you say, huh? I am the one who defeated the man who was praised as the Teacher among the Hokage predecessors, exposed the cheap fiasco with the Priestess of Tea, killed Orochimaru who dared to call himself a Sannin, a genius and an Immortal and you still dare to call me a coward?"

"Yes! I do call you a coward not because I disparaging your skills as a shinobi, but because you don`t regard anything about feelings and this Uchiha Sasuke," She rasped while her digits curled into a ball revving on her heel and dashing onwards with a flying punch discharged from the top of her hipbone.

"…makes you the worst type of a coward! You don`t understand the concept of real strength because you are too selfish and absorbed by raw power and destruction wandering through that devastating path of darkness alone and blinded by arrogance, but you know what?"

Hair in her face, orbs blazing, panting, seating and ruffled clothes littering the floor only added gasoline on fire; the sexual tension between them was lavish and simmering, hot, humid and exotic and, while Sakura was busy belatting him trying to _save_ him from his darkness, Sasuke could barely quench the thirst for feeling her _skin_ on him anymore.

"You are afraid to admit it that real power comes from the heart and not from hatred just because you are too much of a coward to admit it that your own shortcomings are all result of your inability or fright to let those brimming feelings set free."

He was stunned and rendered speechless by her rant; no one has ever dared to sputter such truths in front of his face with the exception of Naruto.

"You are strong and skilled —a genius shinobi that is— but you hide your own misconceptions behind the past mistakes of your ancestors because you are too scared to face yourself first and then find the flaws in the others. You are too much of a coward to look at yourself into the mirror and see your own figure through the eyes of another. Feelings... are an immeasurable endless source of power, while your hatred is only an ephemeral illusion of power." Her emerald orbs slid from his own momentarily facing her chest as she finecomebd her digits through her disheveled blossom locks; then they returned to his own with unparalleled determination and emotion painting the colors of her voice.

"And this is exactly the reason why I," Straightening her sagged pose even though she was teetering on her feet, exhausted and emotionally hurt, she refused to be weak in front of him this time.

Chakra glowing around her wrists in a sudden surge of energy bubbling through her vessels took both of them by surprise; Sakura felt it and Uchiha felt it too —chakra was restrained for her, but Sasuke was powerless in capturing her spirit.

This prisoner was _free_ ; this woman, this angel was _not_ his prisoner in spirit only in body and not only then… because Sasuke did not think of her as a prisoner, he was not a veritable captor, a sadist, someone to torture her and mentally put her into a lot of agony. He was not like that, he was not a cruel heartless bastard.

"Chakra depleted as I am, a fragile breakable foolish girl with no past... I am still stronger than you are because my feelings nourish me the strength to carry on fighting for what I hold the dearest and this is something that you cannot take away from me... Sasuke."

"Feelings," he bowed his head trying to smother that frothing chagrin from his bones, he fisted his hands into the disarray sable locks strewing behind his nape and temples, his baritone voice thundering into the room. "you say I don`t get it..."

It was dazzling obsidian that she met when his orbs made contact to hers again and not the venomous Sharingan like before.

Her breath hitched at how they glowed in intensity, how mellow and sweet they were troubled and scared like they belonged to a child. "but you know nothing about me at all."

"Feelings are not something that you can achieve by practice and unfortunately for you, you will always be so weak and hopeless with your encased heart—"

* * *

He was in front of her holding her waist in a tight clutch before she could even stammer on her own words; her heart leaped into her throat when his overwhelming presence burst her protective bubble and entered her comfort zone. "Annoying _child_..."

"What–"

–"Shut up just..." his lip were on hers with tumultuous ferocity and this time, his kiss pulverized anything including the floor under her feet in passion and intensity she went lax in his arms when he kissed her like that —the passion bursting like fireworks in the sky.

"Mnnmnn… S-Sasuke…." It was like he was playing her mesmerizing music with his lips —a conductor carrying his orchestra through Paradise, breathing music of each instrument in perfect harmony touching her soul, playing watch tune with his heart, with his soul, his hands and lips pouring that passion into that kiss.

They stumbled backwards onto a marquee of sateen silk pillows with him suspended above her panting and tapping his forehead rest on hers; that gesture meant that he still pondered over and had dubiety orbs closed.

"—Yeah I do know about feelings," his whispered voice dripped with internal fervor and tumult that he did not conceal from her.

Sakura`s heart flittered before it stopped for a split second upon seeing _that_ look in his glazed onyx eyes, listening to the sound of his murmured epistles in pure glorifying desire, emotion. "and they are the most idiotic form of commitment. So inutile..."

He kissed her hungrily again with disarray strokes like he was not aiming to kiss her per se or coquette her with his polished techniques but more like having an internal monologue with his superego.

Two diffident hands gently cupped his jaw while a pair of succulent lips attached to his own lingering into the warmth of a butterfly peck almost as if she wanted to unlock the timorous feelings that he still kept locked down inside; he didn't respond at first almost like he spoke her language perfectly —and he did— but did not pull back from her either in some sort of acceptance.

She turned form the pawn of a thirsty desire to pull the strings from the shadows and orchestrate an ambitious game of chess, into the object of his unleashed passion.

Blinded by all that suppressed passion which was slowly coming unhinged from its golden cage as Sakura seemed to have been twisting the right key into the lock and grant him enfranchisement, he surrendered to her as latent feelings were beckoning him like a choir of spirits from the past playing an orchestra that was making him go deaf to his own principles –ones that he was betraying by being so athirst for her taste and coveting for her sylph form– while her murmur was the most suave tune that he has ever heard.

And soon enough Sasuke`s ferocity dissipated slowly into a deep slow dance of lips, both stroking each other`s mouths in perfect sync like they have been rehearsing that type of waltz for decades, tasting and savoring the delicious aroma of each other`s lips and by Kami— it was amazingly divine!

"Hmmnn— n-no… no!" Then the ninja in Sakura reacted instantaneously when she sensed a drop into Sasuke`s flawless natural guard as his hands eased on her hips holding her –too dearly– against his chest and so she put a little pressure onto her hips dropping her body weight for a bit and, using a splendid accurate combat Taijutsu move that would make Hyuga Hinata envious on her precision.

Expertly, skillfully her palm thundered into Sasuke`s sternum whacking the bone with a thrusting blow forward while she –unconsciously– let some of her own chakra seep into her system and augment the striking strength of her blow, tearing her lips from his own, gasping lightly and throwing him three large steps backwards, both gasping for oxygen.

Stygian orbs enkindled like the roaring flames of Tartarus dripping tar and elixir fire from his irises as they simultaneously painted in claret red, fury ingrained into his Sharingan hypnotic orbs.

He was barely keeping himself from stuttering and gasping like a moron because she momentarily knocked the wind out of his pipes with a surprisingly strong blow.

"What," He paused briefly to quench the venom that was frothing on the tip of his tongue seething and barely containing his rage, regaining his composure, hissing to her like a venomous Cobra —low and full of darkness.

"do you think you`re doing... _Sakura_?" He was astounded that she rejected him –like she didn't even feel his kiss or the earnest feelings behind– more than alarm bells chimed into his brain that she was not supposed to use chakra and yet she managed to mold some, but neither realized it like Sasuke did the first time.

The calloused glare that she took from him unbind the frenzy in her flittering heart in a nanosecond as she wasted no time in blubbing uselessly so she bolted to him again hastening her pace as soon as she broke free from his physical hold; because emotionally she was a myriad of nerves and tortuous feelings.

That woman was crazy if she thought of blindly and foolishly engage him into a battle because in her condition she will never win, at least not a _physical_ battle that he refused to engage into to begin with.

He didn't want to fight with this woman because the mere idea of harming her and lay a finger on her with malicious killing intent felt so incredibly wrong even for an S-Ranked Criminal whose name was top tier in the Bingo Book.

"Do not think that you can _play_ me _Uchiha_ Sasuke," Her response felt like a lethal blow sent through his heart; full of dolor that echoed through him like a clingy ghost of the past.

"because I will not fall prey to your illusions or slick crafty words. I am not the _weak_ woman that you try to make me be."

He knew that and not because she had a fair share of power simmering through her vessels, but because her spirit was valiant and courageous.

"Hn," his lips teased with an impish smirk that left her _weak_ and feeble on her knees for his captivating beauty. "is that so?"

In a heartbeat —before she had the chance to take a generous inhale of air into her lungs, her breath stopped midway when he flickered his lissome body vanishing like a phantasm coated in fine spirals of smoke, then materializing right in front of her astounded emerald pools even before she had the chance to blink nearly missing his blitzing momentum.

"Shall we _test_ it then?" his double meaning nearly left her reeling as her cheeks blushed lightly catching his implication. "What is with that bizarre necklace that you are often keeping hidden in your clothes? What is the _symbol_ behind it?" Of course that _his_ eyes wouldn't miss such trivia.

Orbs filled with jade crystals fell downwards to her wrist as she remembered knotting the chain around her hand after she bathed herself, in a familiar gesture that she made whenever she felt insecure or cornered... or filled with those frisky butterflies swarming into her belly because of Sasuke`s closeness; a gift from Tsunade-sama to her when her master parted ways entrusting her with the protection of the Shrine.

"There comes a time when each element shall be set free... fire to be returned to the fire... and wind be returned to the wind..."

Melancholia dabbing against her lips, Sakura murmured unwrapping the chain from around her rail-thin wrist, both her and Sasuke glancing at the filigree meticulous ornamentations of e intricate lattice pendant, embellished with crystals ebbed in bamboo pendant on a necklace —like a magical charm a token.

"What`s that supposed to mean?" Sasuke frowned lightly intently scouting the necklace and trying to figure out whether there was a connection between the pendant and the Chakra Fruit, surmising that it might work as a key to open another treasure that he might be interested in. "some sort of magic spell or a ritual of a Priestess?"

"I have this from my Master but I have not been enlightened of its meaning."

"So… you are blindly following orders forced on you and you don't even have the mere curiosity to inquire about their purpose or meaning? Seriously?"

He mocked her with a humorless sigh, dabbing his fingertips atop the chain then cupping the pendant, while looking at how comical Sakura looked like with her eyes crisscrossed to focus on the necklace.

"Heh... smart girl indeed." sarcasm dripping from his lips and to his amusement she frowned lightly. There was something mystical and fierce about this woman when she got angry –one of those rare moments– then she was irresistible and kindled his own fire.

"You can keep those priggish insults to yourself Sasuke," she peeled her stare from the pendant flickering her affronted orbs to the taunting Uchiha, scowling and pouting in a childish manner to him as she lowered her hand that was holding her precious gift.

"I will not bestow you the contempt of mocking me further after all, I am just a tool to you; the object of your ambitions and recently... pleasure." Albeit her cheeks nearly tinged rubicund in embarrassment reminiscing about their first time together, there was still something intriguing about her sudden curveball.

Sasuke stared at her, listening to her babbling and pouting puckering her lips comically probably throwing insults to him which were polarized to how a Priestess should act –elegant, delicate and refined– and Sasuke resisted the impulse to titter manically at her stupidity albeit he would admit it that her posture, her gestures and temperament, so unpredictable as the wind caressing those high peaks around her Shrine, were refreshing and attractive and so very natural to her; she embodied the Wind just like her dominant element.

Diaphanous and warm when it was a gentle zephyr, but sharp, cold when it stormed and slithered like a honed blade and that duality made Sasuke inquisitive about Sakura. The woman with cherry blossoms sewed in her name was beautiful but capricious.

"Hn. Don`t think so high and mighty of yourself Sakura." Flippantly he tapped his digits along the curve of her neck where the charm was dangling from leisurely, trying to find a meaning behind the gift; it truly must mean something more that she was not alert of.

"Hadn`t it been for the think that you are safeguarding so obediently and diligently, then you would have been of no real use to me and thus I would have probably disposed of you earlier..."

Something in his chest ached when he trailed those words because it hurt her visibly albeit Sakura was not someone to lament herself.

Chaffed, Sakura let her orbs shuffle from his warm hand tingling her skin to his playful eyes, pinning him with a pyre enkindled in her orbs, defying him and nearly despising his words –and him– for what he has just said albeit they both knew that he was not that pragmatic; at least not anymore and she spat to him venomously in a timbre that she has never used before with him or anyone else.

"So that is what I truly am to you? The golden key to the vault of treasures? Then please proceed and do not let the job halfway done. _Kill me_ like you have claimed since I am such a trouble for you! Stain your hands into my blood and spit on all the leftovers of your dignity and morality since it does not seem to make it any different for you whether I am a prisoner, an adversary or a prostitut–"

"–Nothing would make me more content than killing you Sakura," he cut her short when she was about to drop the word 'whore' which was the sole thing that he had to protest against because he was not viewing her as a concubine, he was not the type of deprived perverted man and what he did was never something so absurd and superficial and her lips collided into a stunned firm purse.

"but I can`t do it, can`t you _fuckin_ tell? I can't fucking kill you and this pisses me off more than anything else." He nearly shouted raising the pitch of his voice, blazing like embers of fire. His orbs were turbulent, stormy and troubled and she froze locking gazes with him.

Wind hindered into her windpipe as her heart missed one cadence and whether it was out of fury or chagrin or something else Sakura had no idea but she nearly choked on air at how incredibly vexed Sasuke sounded because he genuinely sounded troubled and perturbed.

And the main problem was not even herself but his own torturous feelings which were making his unswerving principles shake and threaten to crumble.

"Y–You want to ki–kill me but you c–cannot... why is that?" She blubbed to him in sheer amazement, while he kept on staring deeply into her lustrous orbs, not actually processing what she was trying to tell him because he found himself pinned by something so trivia as following the gleams of her irises shimmering like faces of a rough diamond in shades of emerald; he had no idea of why was that fascinating him so much but he was unable to eschew from that.

"What?" he glimmered once focusing on the words which were a lulling andante harmony while his eyebrows knotted into a frown, nearly rasping. "Are you deaf? I already stated that I am unaware of it myse–"

Sakura dared to breach into his trenchant insult when she realized that he did not processed the meaning of her inquiry interrupting him sternly yet softly and with so much turbulence in her voice that it even stunned him; she sounded like a broken sad violin trying to find the right pitch. "–why do you want to kill me? _Why_?"

It concerned Sakura more than the reason why he could not retort to something like that probably because her unstained pure nature still had faith in the condition of the humankind as not someone born exclusively rotten to the core, but molded after the society and the environment.

But she could not fathom why he was so fixated on taking away her life since she was not even an enemy to him in all the plethora of the notion, but someone who should not have ever crossed paths with him.

Sasuke made it clear that he was not interested in possessing the Chakra Fruit and use it for his own crooked ambitions and he proved it because he has not dashed to her Shrine to raid it as he threatened to do.

She tried to get her answer from the abysses of his black sapphire orbs but she could not decipher was written inside; the luminescence inside them was expressive, beautiful, tempting and idiosyncratic but labyrinthine.

No matter how much she gazed into Sasuke`s eyes, Sakura could never decrypt those coded emotions and she had an inkling that no one ever could.

His repose fell lavish and heavy between them and suddenly oxygen seemed to be thicker and impossible to inhale.

If there was something that was genuinely eerie about Sasuke was his silence because that was the most vivid and suggestive emotion that he ever displayed.

The more he kept his lips sealed and his orbs dynamic and emphatic boring into the depths of her soul, then the more her skin prickled with hot shivers and rivulets of sweat rolled along her temples.

Sakura could not help herself but gulp once desperate to quell the hard bump down her throat but she only embarrassed herself because the sound of the anxious motion resonated between them like metal dropped on marble betraying how much he was affecting her.

Sasuke knew his psychological game all too well; he did not need any confirmation of the torment he inflicted on the others especially since nothing seemed to be reaching her and for someone as intuitive as Sakura who knew that his conniption was just a genius trickery –a practiced veneering– reading him proceed to be even more challenging for her mind. "Because I hate _what_ you are."

Those simple words were striking and merciless, cruel and categorical and they lacerated her heart painfully until life has bleed out of her, while dainty pearly tears burned at the corners of her orbs making them glossier and shinier.

"You h–hate…what I… you hate _me_ for…? Why? W–Who could I be for you to despise me so much?"

She couldn't begin to fathom his reason to affirm something like that. Hate girded a plethora of suppressed feelings of rage, aversion and acrimony towards someone and it was cultivated through the years and not something to feel for someone in the span of few days.

Moreover, why did he sleep with her if he loathed her like he stated? All those engraved emotions were so easy to read in her eyes, in the way her heavenly delightful features crushed under the intensity of a deep scowl, but the emotion which overshadowed the rest was disappointment; because he was not earnest with her to the end, highlighting his previous resolution with a grunt and a laconic earmark response from his throat. "Hn. Why should I explain myself to _you_?"

"You are such a lying jerk!" A ball of fingers curled in a trembling fist targeted his chest flinging onwards haphazardly, but the momentum and her force were inept to cause any damage or inflict the daintiest of pains.

Consequently, Sasuke did not even bothered to doge or eschew from the blow –part of his conscious trimmed into his brain that he deserved it, simply letting her to hit him as a simple voyeur of her frenetic bubbling rage.

"You say that you hate me, right? Then I _too_ hate you for the superficial _fool_ that you are and for breaking me to pieces just to laugh at me for how foolish have I been to believe in someone so empty, so tremendously _vain_!"

Realization of what she chimed to him hit them both in addition to another punch aiming for his face but this time Sasuke did not let her blow graze his cheek for he side stepped in a fleeting fluid motion blocking her thrust onwards with a painful grip around her wrist but she did not even finch. "Ah—!"

Strands of berry blond locks flittered around her form and fell aimlessly into her orbs and face while she gasped for air and gave him a bloodcurdling stare that was resonating with the feelings churning in her heart.

Who would have thought that the Priestess of Tea –the embodiment of fragility, grace and holy spirits– would nurture such powerful conflicting sentiments inside her.

"Empty...?" He reiterated after her more like trying to probe its resonance into his own mind.

A fugitive memory of his brother having shouldered all the burden of drawing the curtain over his own family and kinsmen alone with no one to confide in whirled inside Sasuke`s mind; Itachi cared deeply –maybe too much– for the Village, for his family hoping till the very end that their vision would volteface and they would trust the Leaf once again as an important pillar of its security and ultimately he cared for his little brother.

That was why he frowned softly not at Sakura but because he did not want his resolution to waver just because of a little girl and her words of wisdom.

"Why would _you_ care?" He belittled while his hold around her frail hand tightened painfully but Sakura didn`t make any sound; she was far too preoccupied with trying to understand what was brimming into that man`s mind and plus she was a true shinobi who shall not reveal pain or fright in front of another shinobi –she could not call Sasuke enemy at least not after they...

"Why would I need a solid reason to care for somebody? This is something spontaneous which comes from a deeper feeling and not something that I cultivate… like your hatred! You don't need to _do_ something in order for _care_ to bubble into your heart!"

Sakura smartly pointed out to his previous statement that he hated her while bespeaking that he had no valid reason to do so since they barely met and were not affiliated to each other in anyway, not having one single encounter before, only a rumor from Orochimaru and his obsession for power.

"I don`t need someone like you to foster me." She felt deeply insulted by the way he seemed to downgrade her like she was an annoying pest that he could not ward off.

"Then what do you need then? Power?" Rattling she raised her chin in a smug gesture side glancing at the opened trap into the floor jeering and scolding him while trying to quench that bitter sadness jarring inside her chest but she will not cry like a feeble soft spineless woman in front of him.

"Then go and grab it! Isn`t this the sole reason for you to be here?! You are no better than that sick nutcase Orochimaru or the regular criminals albeit there is always another hidden purpose for them to retort to breach the laws, but it doesn`t seem to be _your_ case."

He simply listened to her spitting those words to him stifling a smirk at how she was panting and seating while trying to appear unaffected when in reality she didn`t even try to put any distance between their touching bodies and nor pry her hand off his grip.

But it was also true that he himself has loosened his hold on her mindful that he was hurting, as the chakra flaring around her arms signalized to him.

She didn`t even need to chide him verbally because the Jutsu that he casted on her conveyed everything that he wanted to know into feelings; feelings hefted into his already heavy chest huddling inside like peas of lost _hope_ , shattered, frail but still moonlit… still waiting...

He felt the sadness, the despair and the plea inside her chest –words that she was smothering– sound and clear ricocheting back to him but he kept his seemingly equanimity on his handsome face simply glimmering once as she was putting so much zeal into berating him knowing it deep inside that she was right in every aspect.

But it didn`t mean that Sakura was not conflicting him with her words and gestures and plus she was castigating and insulting him and that made him bridle and _react_ accordingly; desperately.

"Then what would that make _you_ ," He clipped gratingly, menacingly his thunderous voice thudding into the hollow of her chest as she halt in her lecture. entirely submerging into the look in his eyes.

Uchiha briskly tilted his head on the side to veil a smirk of pure contempt sliding along the rim of his tempting lips, amusement being rimmed into the depths of his seemingly austere orbs.

"…a Priestess who gave herself to me _voluntarily…_ to _such_ a scumbag and an S-Ranked criminal?" Uchiha knew he was crossing the line and the look of pure hurt welling into her widened green apple orbs was a vestige of what has been lost to her; she was not regretting the decision to sleep with him but her ineptitude to reach to him.

And he did not stop there unfortunately but she truly tapped something inside him that should have been left benumbed and frozen. "Shall I name it for you… _Sakura_?"

Albeit he wouldn't want to call her a _whore_ because Sakura was anything but a prostitute. He knew it and that was one of the main reasons while Sasuke decided to have sex with her –because a prideful Uchiha man will never step so low in having flings and one night stands with easy women, not in a million years.

Her purity has fascinated and captivated him from the beginning; it still did because it made no difference if she was not physically pure anymore since he was the first man in her life and no one else, which only equaled to her still being virtuous.

But he was troubled and displeased and thus Sasuke had to pay the Priestess back for provoking him. "Whatever I did wrong then I take full responsibility for but even if I am not worthy of being on par with such a honorable duty as a Priestess, it does not mean that I cannot fulfill my purpose as a shinobi or as a... woman."

Sakura was positive that she nearly stammered the last part and that only gave the bastard a chance to smirk in her face in that pompous way that both vexed and bewitched her but she was earnest and he knew it; Sakura will never lie to him, but neither will Sasuke.

And that was the reason why he found his lips blabber before his mind had the chance to catch up with his forward remark and censor it.

"So what if I would want to do it again?" Her expression of complete stupefaction was worth a painting and that was why Sasuke inched closer to her gazing into those auriferous emerald irises which stared right back to him consternated, letting his husky voice soften into a richer alto key as he nearly whispered in her face.

Frozen and struck by lightning he stood before her, not believing it that Sakura has just openly sputtered that she… that she _wanted_ to make love with him again.

"Would you still be a preacher of moral values or scream my name like the first time?" Lightning might strike Sasuke before he openly admitted that he absolutely adored the way she shouted out his given name in pure delight when he granted her release; it was the most thrilling, kittenish and musical sound that he ever heard and it got him addicted.

Secretly, he wanted to hear her moan it again... and again for eternity but since time wasn`t this generous with him, Sasuke would be satisfied to just disrobe her of those soft clothes, pin her down into the futon and arch against her deep, hard and in complete passion.

Sakura gulped audibly once as her body shamefully betrayed the salacious things that trimmed on her conscience and suddenly her atmosphere encased and her tenue appeared less zealous to insult and lecture him, growing suddenly demure again, reversing to the cute innocent young woman that she normally was, one that would appeal to any proud man`s sense of dominance and protection.

And when the words rolled out like silk on the velvet curtain of the night out of his tempting lips trembling in such a rich dark resonance, Sakura thought that she lost her mind, forgetting the reason why she was so angry with him.

"Kiss me then," He commanded loftily with so much pride in his aura that it make him even more masculine and tempting sliding his supple digits under the ridge of her pointed chin making her arch her neck by cupping it between his index finger and thumb.

"prove me wrong in my earlier assumptions and demonstrate it to me that you are not afraid to make a decision for yourself without pandering to something that the others deem as beneficent and morally rightful. Show me... what truly lies into your heart… _Sakura_."

* * *

 _And I might follow_ , were his unspoken words but because they metamorphosed into letters of a code that his chakra around her wrists conveyed into such poetic words, Sakura inwardly apologized to the heavens above, to the Shrine that she was staining with her lack of abstinence, to Tsunade and her ancestors Priestesses for her next act.

Narrowing her orbs to slits until they glowed like embers of fire rippling like meadows in paradise, flaming emerald diamonds soaked in embers of a pyre, she swiftly tipped on her bare toes leaning forward and slammed her smooth petals against his smirking thin lips, pressing firmly onto them while her free hand, the one which was not being his captive, has snuck around his neck for leverage, netting into the batch of ebony hair spewing from behind his nape.

And it took him a millisecond to arch his chin for more access, so the tip of their noses wouldn`t bump into each other again like they just did when she bunglingly pecked his lips accepting his challenge.

Thrilled by this unwound ferocity, Sasuke happily parted his lips more for her, hastily taking the lead of that kiss, coiling an expert hand around her waist in one fluid motion, coddling her into his chest and she leaned into his arms completely. They were both fools... he and her, and they knew it. Not even Sasuke denied it anymore, not even _mentally_.

 _We are both fools, but what can we do? What can_ _I_ _do_ , was a quest that floated above their lips as unspoken missives.

Sakura was a Priestess who was supposed to stay away from temptation and sin while Sasuke was the leader of a rogue Nin organization who was not supposed to commit and share feelings of intimacy.

But what could they do when a single deep gaze, a fleeting touch, the fragrance of their skin, the delicacy of their lips were enough to ignite the fire between them? Vying with _Fate_ was similar to struggling against the upstream; in the end, they would only strive in _vain_ being carried haphazardly by the tempestuous waves.

"I am no fool Sakura, because I don't fall prey to the brazen idea that there aren't survivors plotting to attack me, but what they overlook is the fact that I am not here to enslave the Leaf." Panting roughly trying to regain his breath, he murmured softly through their kiss, his lips only inches apart from her succulent petals. "I am here to give it a new face." _I always knew._

"How then?" If she was struck to hear his bubbling confession, Sakura hid it well. Frowning lightly while reeling into the bliss of his aromatic skin tingling on her mouth, she disputed.

"By taking the life of a Kage —the embodiment of power, dignity and prosperity? By murdering numerous Shinobi without remorse while imprisoning the rest, locking them in those gruesome cells to mourn for the loss of their beloved ones for the rest of their miserable days? You are sick... maliciously ill and evil Sasuke. "

He might have argued against those words as they poisoned his chest, sprinkling him with their vehemence and showering him with oppressing words, but instead… he challenged further trying to justify his actions.

"How insightful and artistic you are in reading people's minds aren't you Sakura?" Sasuke always veiled his hurt and disappointment behind sarcasm; it was not a secret to Sakura anymore.

Uchiha blew hotly against her lips, tapping her murmuring petals with another chaste moist kiss against her puckered syrupy lips, the rutilant hue in her cheeks betrayed how he enslaved her dark desires entirely making them his own captives.

"It might be the case, but the beauty of it lies in the fact that you cannot resist this maleficent _demon_ that is me."

Dark inflections of a low piano key rumbled from his chest, luscious and opulent, rich and defining the paradigms of sensuality when he sensually berated her.

She gulped while a trembling step back making words falter in her throat as they refused to betray his effect on her. Dabbing his nude sculpted chest with her palms, weakly she tried to shriek away from him. "Let go, this is something that I do not wish to listen—"

"—No _no_ don't stop me in vain, _love_. It's no secret to anyone that you try to act against your will." Desperately, Sasuke clasped her wrists with his lean digits keeping her warm palms atop his lustrous skin, orbs lowering to gaze into the depths of her viridian ones; imploring, begging for her to understand and not fight him, not like that.

Sakura shook her head adamantly. "I can see it so clearly unlike you Sasuke, " the way his exquisite name whimpered from her succulent lips and Kami night help him if Sasuke wasn't imagining them pop between his mouth like dark ripen cherries, so very reminiscent to her —barely a woman still blessed with the eternal enigma of innocence; lustrous juicy and sweet sour.

"the zeal for revenge, the unfulfilled dreams. You jeep on running, searching for something that seems out of reach your attempt to play limit conscience is admirable but futile."

The more her rubicund cheeks tinged with the afterglow of her rose moiré locks, the more her latest character kindled in unexplored passion making Sasuke's tuck of lips whirl deliciously into a crooked tantalizing side smirk. "I understand your role and I know the purpose you serve Sakura. A Priestess… how noble of you."

Cocking his head on his left side, Sasuke smirked at her inner plight, visibly from the way she unconsciously kept on gumming on her lower lip nervously. "you don't trust me. How can I make you understand that I am not an enemy?"

"How can you ask me to truly _trust_ you when you did nothing but hurt the ones that I care for the most?" _What about me_ , the unspoken epistles mingled with their hot breaths fanning over their faces. "How can I trust a man who claims everything thorough sheer power and _fear_? Who is so absorbed by darkness by hatred?" Was he really?

Sighing heavily so as to compose himself and collect his scattered figments, he explained. "You fail to understand Sakura. There are... Other forces that you and the Leaf should fear and they are not _me_."

"others?" her voice was a flaring gust of wind to his ears as she bristled, arguing. " _Who_ are the other enemies of the Leaf Sasuke? You have said it before but never provided a further explanation, you have not kept your part of the promise to enlighten me about your fam—"

* * *

He interjected before she seethed more, her ferment causing a furor into his own chest painfully, uncontrollably. "—I assume that you have never heard of Akatsuki before." With a newfound determination, he made up his mind in telling her the truth after all, he _promised_ to her and Sasuke was not a man to break his oaths.

"Akatsuki? No, never. " At least she wasn't hypocrite to fake affront that he was addressing her as a ninja and not a representation of something virtually sacrosant. "no, never. "

"See? This is the reason why you are so dense and narrow minded, albeit you can be pretty brainy and introspective sometimes." He fine-combed a hand though the tufts of ebon lush hair exhaling softly through his nostrils, resuming his speech.

"A secret society with their own occult hierarchy and an occult scope which had stayed in the shadows so many years concocting whatever mischievous evil plans they had as they are usually split in two groups, each travelling around the world seemingly looking for a certain something."

The gleam in his eyes made Sakura gulp once as she realized the implication of his tremendous words. "They are looking for… _something_? Something like… what?"

"My assumption is that they look for an alternative source of immeasurable power and now that I have the knowledge that Konoha has something like the Chakra Fruit lodged within its vaults, then I surmise that these two key elements are somehow connected."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I think I am not venturing too far into assuming that Akatsuki are looking for this Chakra Fruit that has foolishly been left in your unsupervised hands or..."

he looked at her form the corner of his stygian orbs before glancing skywards through the cold blue hint of the oblong window. "...you are keeping a close eye on it with the help of someone whose name you don't want to disclose —probably your alleys and the ones plotting to take one me and my friends. Tell me the truth Sakura," once again he approached her like a feline, caging her into the intensity of his gaze alone. "have you already contacted them, asking for help?"

She took a wobbling step backwards as she hit a paper wall gulping but not shattering the eye lock between them, albeit she knew that hiding from his stare was futile; Uchiha Sasuke was piercing through her soul with those unfathomable eyes, beguiling her soul into spilling every iota of the truth that he was looking for but Sakura refused to portray fear.

Tapping his right hand against the wall beside her head, he shadowed her much kosher form as the darkness spanned around her demand and dominating as he came in eye level with her, terribly amused at how she was trying to eschew form his gaze, but found herself unable to look away in dread that he would see right through her fallacious words.

"If so— then know that you are very stupid and naive. Not only they will never succeed against me and my comrades, but you will also give the Akatsuki one in a million chance to take advantage of a violent turbulence caused into the Leaf and strike as well, so consequently their chances of getting their greedy hands on the Chakra Fruit are almost one hundred percent. For them, it's like stealing the candy from a kid, while we fight among us when in reality the real enemies laugh behind our backs a how incredibly sluggish and unskilled we are. Do you understand what I mean, Sakura?"

Surprisingly he was unruffled and composed like velvet on lace and so was his sateen voice as he unrolled each word out of his elixir lips, but the coldness, the dominance and the threat behind was evident and it was precisely that calmness in his conniption the thing that made him more fearsome than someone who would have been very expressive in exuding his vexation and exasperation by how she was clearly plotting to betray him.

Somehow, the simple notion of Sakura scheming behind his back and only using his natural iconic charms to seduce him and determine him to lower down his guard and the walls around his heart –the protective impenetrable shield that girded him and fostering him so as not to fall prey to such deplorable manipulation– was making Sasuke`s innards quivery and a violent wave of repulsion washed along his spine, pelting against his chest as it constricted painfully.

"If you choose to side with whatever feeble shinobi is scattered somewhere in the vicinity of the Leaf,"

A sneaky lean digit glissaded under her chin as Sasuke cupped her bone between his thumb and forefinger making Sakura arch her neck and glance skyward bringing her even closer to him and nearly making her lose balance as the back of her knees teetering forward, looking into his eyes in fear and a subtle nuance of disappointment at his brazen words. "S-Sasuke… I-I—"

"—and stab me in the back, then you haven't understood a thing about how this world goes by. I already know that you found a way to convey at least one message to your friends, so do not even dare to try and serve me a lie."

An odd reeling has enveloped her mind into a mantle of fog as she could virtually envision her silhouette swaying like fine smoke in disarray meandering steps losing her way into the abysses of his eyes and a knot formed along her lump sending a prickling tension into the bridge of her nose and the corner of her eyes, as they pooled with a spring of fresh tears that glazed her glazed orbs but she refused to cry.

This man was intelligent… astoundingly intelligent.

It was not because Sasuke was terrifying her with those words, because she too was not an oblivious idiot knowing that Uchiha was familiar with the means of a shinobi and thus he probably guessed that she sought for help outside the Village, knowing that there were still Leaf shinobi who escaped during the fray, but because what she has depicted into the depths of those onyx eyes demolished every concept about human emotions that Sakura has stumbled across.

They were completely empty of any emotion, of any figment, void and cold, unmistakably frozen encased into a block of ice, barren of any warmth and hope, only churning of a unfathomable darkness blazing purple and hypnotic as she could taste, feel, hear and see that solitude, blankness and desolation.

There was nothing there, only a universe of vacuum. They terrified Sakura of how empty they were albeit the way they reflected light enkindled like million candles in the sky made them look expressive, it was such a fallacious smooth lie and that thought alone broke her worse than any physical inflicted pain.

"Why do you care about what I do?" She was barely preventing herself from stuttering and betray how anxious she really was. "Didn't you say that you are _not_ apprehensive about the prospect of being ambushed by the ones who try to strategize and plot a counterattack?"

Shockingly he didn't smirk nor were his words or his stare trenchant and domineering only hard, stern, stoic and somehow possessive as something else flickered into those eyes that she desperately tried to reach, but it was him the one to keep her away from him as the warmth of his breath gusting over her lips didn't reach his eyes.

"I do not, but I want to make sure that I do not leave myself exposed to any sort of surprise attack. Lowering my guard to the tiniest potential threat means that I am not a professional shinobi, only a buffoon who only shows fangs but never uses them to slay the flesh of his enemies and thus it will give the outline of a weakling in front of the others; something that I am not."

"I hate you!" She found herself shouting in his face as she tried to push him backwards and put some distance between them –physical distance to add to that infinite gap between their spirits and souls– figuratively trying to find that calmness and wellness of the mind again before he snuck inside her and made them whirling like a devastating hurricane, but her frail attempts and fragile frame were all pathetic in Sasuke`s eyes and thus futile.

"I don`t understand why you like to do with me like that, and twist the thoughts in my mind, so let me go–"

"–calm. down." His voice was even sleeker as each syllable reverberated from his chest low and smooth and polished and irresistible, clutching her wrists with his strong hands and pinning them against the wall as his chest pressed against her own almost painfully crushing her between his sculpted body and the wall behind and cutting the air supply from her lungs as she visibly tried to inhale deeper, gasping and shooting her orbs upwards to search for his hindering her struggle.

"Think for yourself, Sakura. I do not need your feelings, I just need you not to stay in my way and do more harm than good while deluding yourself that you are protecting your Village."

"An _obstacle_ in your... way?" A fury blazing like a comet washing over the sky bubbled inside her coming from the depth of an Inner self that Sakura didn't know of while hurt and betrayal brimmed into her chest hearing Sasuke`s cold words.

Did he just admit that she represented absolutely nothing but a burden to him? Orbs narrowed in a vicious rage that even stunned Sasuke washed over her pristine face twisting her features in a way that nearly made him regret his words... nearly.

"What is wrong with trying to defend what I love dearly, what I believe in? Aren't you trying to do exactly the same?!" She shouted in his face while his mimics didn't change a bit.

His obsidian orbs kept on piercing through her own emeralds breathing in every single emotion churning inside, unhinged from their confinements amazed to find out that she had a warrior sequestered underneath all the stupid Priestess veneering.

"Everything is flawed in an ambition to fight against someone who is nowhere near your real enemy, Sakura. You cannot stop a revolution that leads to progress and sacrifices are always necessary and inevitable to accomplish a higher goal, but when you fail to notice the difference between a revolution and a personal wicked ambition masked into a revolution that will never benefit to anyone else than its author, then you are indeed stupid."

She knew what Sasuke meant and if she was to believe his words, then they all shall cooperate with Sasuke and not only her but how could she trust the smoothest demon when she hasn't even met those Akatsuki that he was talking about?

How could she make sure that his fallacious words weren't just a perfect tool to manipulate and trick her into giving away the location of Tsunade and the other Leaf shinobi and then use her as a bait to lure them and kill them like he did to their Hokage?

Could someone who murdered a Kage in cold blood still be trusted like this? She sought for the answer in his eyes one more time but found emptiness, the same hollow darkness that engulfed the very light and shattered it into even more pieces of darkness mirroring the ones of his soul, and, to her utter horror, Sasuke knew exactly what she hoped to find out and what she wanted to hear and he was even willing to tell her everything that she craved to hear from him, but he couldn't.

This time, there was no one to advice her, to counsel her and tell her if Sasuke lied or not; she had to rely on her own feelings and intuition… she had to _mature_.

Not when his own feelings about her and his still unclear purpose in life were so uncertain. "The fact that you have slept with me and I have spared your life does not mean that I am indebted to you in anyway, Sakura. I owe you nothing and you do not owe me anything in return."

"What if... I want to owe you something?!" She realized her mistake when it already unrolled from her lips biting them orbs wide open and she swore that something flipped in his stoic gestures but he was quick to draw the mask back on his face before she could decrypt it correctly.

 _Oh no_ — she didn't just say _that_ …

"Then that is your own very personal problem and not mine. My dream lies in front of me and I would appear as a pathetic emotional fool if I let it slip past my hands."

He abruptly let her go as his words ricocheted back to her swiveling on his heel and swiftly padded along the wooden floor back to where the Chakra Fruit was secluded and it was then when Sakura realized that she hasn't breathed, taking a generous inhale as she clutched tightly on the two V trimmed folds of her kimono watching his steps sinking further into the airy room.

If she could, Sakura`s shimmying knees would have dropped onto the floor sagging in front of his implacable words; but she did not, still keeping her dignity and her straight pose as a mask.

Because inwardly, Sasuke was pulverizing any morsel of hope and feeling in her heart with his words alone; his rejection, his coldness hurt worse than any weapon from his repertoire.

"I have heard you talking about your dream before but noticed that it is never projected into the... future."

Those words albeit spoken like a soft violin tune were clear and strong resonating into his eardrums and trimming his conscience as he stopped his velvet steps, with his masculine back turned to her.

"You are somehow trapped into the past Sasuke..." Finding her voice again, she flared her orbs to his nape somehow imploring him to turn around and acknowledge her but he didn't move an inch. "...and no matter how much I try to reach you from the present... it`s still so much distance between us..."

That was the reason why his orbs –his beautiful charcoal orbs tinged by a glacé white gold gleam around his irises enhancing the noble aura on his features– were so empty; because they were only empty shells without a soul of his past projection.

Her words will not reach him just as her heart and feelings meant nothing to him and she knew it but Sakura still didn't give up hope because without the light of hope shining in the shrine of her own chest, then she would truly estrange herself from all the love and felicity and thus will be incapable to make another person happy.

So Sakura clung on those miraculous feelings in her heart and, summoning all the courage to surmount the feelings of complete estrangement that she felt due to his cruel honest words, she skidded after his shadow as she nearly raised her had to reach him before he turned into sea foam and disappeared right before her eyes.

Small light steps pelted against the floor as she joggled to him when Sasuke grunted his earmark reply which gave nothing away but compelled everything in one single meaningful 'Hn' when he put one feet in front of the other determined to snatch that Chakra Fruit from its place and find another more secure place to hid it from the Akatsuki and the one who proclaimed himself as Uchiha Madara, before Sakura leaped to him as her moves became more fluid like she was made of wind and perfume.

"Sasuke…" Vivaciously almost hysterically, Sakura leashed to him as she coiled her both elegant hands around his left arm, unclasping his wrist and his muscular bicep, making him stop and this time he turned his head over his shoulder to crush the last resolve in her merry holy spirit and glare fiercely at her audacious brazen gesture to try and stop him from reaching his goal.

"Let. go–"

"—No!" She shook her head adamantly and her voice, blinded by choking tears, physically hurt him as Sasuke felt those dew droplets somehow drum against his skin melting it with how they burned like they were coming from the sun, echoing through those empty filigree decorated walls singing the same symphony of loneliness, despair and pleading with him to listen to her voice.

"No, I… I _want_ to know! I want a reason to trust your words, I need something palpable to assure me that you are not just trying to lei to me and use me as a tool for your own ambitions!"

He listened to her nightingale voice as she poured every single emotion inside it, not hiding herself from him and, to his utter disbelief, Sasuke found himself starting at how her ivory skin collided with that bright coral red cloth dotting her elegant curves, and how those jade ornamentations sewed on the silk were enhancing the poetic portrait of a nymph, following her opaline skin`s natural afterglow as the power of expression in her chartreuse orbs melted the lights on her face in a romantic angelic song. "Please Sasuke… _please_ …"

"How can I trust someone who enslaved me because I represent the people`s symbol of hope and love and killed a Kage who was their mentor and the source of strength and courage?! How can I trust a demon with such empty eyes?" Dazzling beads of teardrops cooled his skin as she pressed her cheek onto his left pectoral, her words weak, imploring, turbulent and unleashed physically lacerating through his skin.

His digits trembled and fidgeted brushing over the cotton fabric of his pants, anxious hands burning to encircle her small back and press her into his chest but he refrained from any suggestive gesture, simply glancing downwards at the bundle of cherry blossom hair huddled under his chin, listening to her voice.

"They scare me... _you_ scare me Sasuke, so much! I don`t even know whether you are indeed a living person or a cruel demon who reside in the pits of darkness! I want to know, I want to know what is on your mind but I can`t read anything inside because your eyes... your eyes cannot bear life inside, they are not real, they are not warm, they are just weapons, objects of manipulations, of creating perfect illusions and this makes me feel so impotent to help you, so impotent to save you from your own demons... so unimportant and small to be worthy of your attention..."

Glimmered once, Sasuke tried to reason why did he pay any heed to what she said; Sakura openly admitted that he _scared_ her, but why was his heart twiddling into his chest when hearing such words from her mouth?

By the time she finished whimpering, her voice broke into a light lyrical whisper and she downcast her orbs from him as tears nearly blinded her but the hold she had on his arm betrayed her imploring unspoken words and her desperation.

This is what she truly thought about him? After all the things that he has done to her, after how he treated her so gently when anyone else in his place would have been brutal, barbarous and more bloodthirsty for her innocence, breaking her? "You are... so very annoying, Sakura."

She froze at those words but when she darted her orbs instinctively to his face to find that confirmation in those eyes, those two cruel impartial judges, she found him smirking at her in light amusement realizing that all those genuine words welling into her chest as she spoke from her heart were only a source of entertainment for him.

 _Time… doesn't brush the tears away or does it show piety, only castigates us by making us forget all this pain._

"I know... I know! But I cannot simply let an enemy defeat me so easily and be just another pathetic woman who fell prey to your natural charms instead of putting up a decent vigorous fight, even if it might seem suicidal."

He was not stunned to hear such brave words coming form her mouth for Sasuke already concluded that Sakura was indeed a splendid shinobi trained into those amazing traditional martial arts that only Shaolin and Tao priests were capable to reach such a deep level of spiritual knowledge and understanding of human spirit and the connection between the soul and nature through their fine moves.

But he will not allow her to come close to the real him the one who was still fragile, whose scars were still as fresh and bleeding the tears of a past as were his violent nightmares haunting his nights.

Sasuke will try to stop her trying to coddle him with her affection, because she was the only one whose fragility stirred in him the natural masculine impulse to protect her, to foster her into his arms and and gather her into his embrace as she would be as exotic and tempting and sensual as her pleading eyes. "Life is a precious gift Sakura. You shall value it more."

"My life alone doesn`t mean a thing if I do not fulfill my purpos–"

Rolling his orbs in pure exasperation at how annoying noble that woman could be, Sasuke reacted in a way that neither expected nor anticipated and yet secretly desired, tucking his hand easily out of her grasp and, whirling around on his heel as swift and fluid as the water`s stream, he cupped her rubicund cheek brushing his digits through her cotton-candy hair. "Wha— Sasu—"

"Hush— you talk too _damn_ much." Angling his face as he dipped down swiftly like a snake attacking its prey, his lips cupped hers in blinding carnal desperation as he too smothered those unspoken desires deep inside the catacombs of his mind as his bruising kiss muffled those useless words that she shall not speak, because they bore no verisimilitude into them.

"Mmmn—" She tried to pray her lips off his demanding ones as she gasped feeling a sleek tongue graze the swell of her lower one but for the love of all that`s holy, she could not resist the taste of his lips; he was simply too divine even unleashed and ungraceful like this.

The passion in his strokes as he only slid his abrasive tongue along her lips tasting them and feeling how supple and plump they were popping under his kiss like succulent cherries and by Kami, they were so succulent, so lush, syrupy and sweet.

It was the only sweet thing that Sasuke approved off eagerly massaging and suckling on her lips without sliding his tongue inside because the purpose of the kiss was not to bring her pleasure nor explore the in depths of passion but to convey something that a laconic man like him was prone to never express as he was not an extrovert person, but he terribly wanted her to understand something that even vexed him that such things could pass through his mind.

 _Hear me out!_ Hear him out and comprehend the words that his mind kept shrouded behind closed lips.

And when Sakura stopped squirming and struggling to tear her mouth from him fighting him in a vain attempt to hold onto her shaking morals and fisted her shaky hands deep into his raven hair, pulling him closer to her, he knew that he shall stop because the purpose of the kiss deviated and drifted to something that they both tried to suppress and failed so.

But instead of acting according to his ration, he found himself enclosing his hands around her waist and pulling her flush into his chest breathing in the exuberant floral fruity perfume and nectar taste that overwhelm his senses as she melted into his arms like a candle.

He was so stupid... oh damn— he was the biggest idiot of the planet and a complete bastard to indulge into something so corrupt with a woman that was the embodiment and the personification of all that` pure, pristine, holy and ineffable but he could not stop.

Uchiha shall never stop, she was perfect like this stained by his taste lingering on her as Sakura suckled on his lips with the same zealous passion and not surprisingly it was Sakura the one to glissade her rosy tongue into his mouth and Sasuke was left with no other option but to let her in to explore and taste him. "Hmmm…"

This was not a response to his kiss in acceptation and understanding of his silent words; this was a kiss summoned and created from feelings, from so strongly coveting for something that shouldn't feel so right.

Oh Kami— it shouldn't be so real while still being a projection of a perfect chimera that she summoned in her mind as she thought that he was not the broken man behold salvation, someone who will probably never be capable to return the smallest smidgen of the feelings she gave for nothing, for free, from the depths of her heart.

Sasuke didn't deny it. He let Sakura kiss him and control that kiss in a cute ungainliness as she was still so novice, so unfamiliar with how shall she fall in harmony with his brushes.

But the fact that she did not stumble against something so unimportant simply letting herself wade into that sheer passion made Sasuke both mentally and physically aroused, finding it simply irresistible how perfectly contradicting her gesture were as they changed in his presence with the nonchalance of a pendulum counting down hours and seconds at the right time.

"N—No—," She precipitously interrupted their kiss pressing her palms against his strong chest, lips dripping with lustrous saliva like a peach soaked in lush nectar, breathing unevenly and gasping for air and barely humming to him while shaking her head with only half of her heart willingly breaking from his rich lips.

"—no, I _can`t_ do this with you anymore Sasuke... I cannot stain the sacrosanct image of this place nor betray my benefactors—"

"—Sakura," his voice was urgent, demanding and mingled with exasperation and a morsel of desperate _plea_ as he cupped her shoulder blades with his palms hindering her from backpedalling away from him.

"your protectors are people who abandoned a naive defenseless young woman into a fucking Shrine forgotten by any living and erased the memory of her family and birthplace, for fuck`s sake!" he grasped her shoulders steadying her —or keeping her _away_ from leaning forward into his embrace, rasping at her.

"So stop faking commitment to those fake benefactors that only take advantage of you… is fucking ridiculous laughable and disgusting. They have mentally and physically restrained and enslaved you and no you are holding this grudge on _me_ and reproach it to me who is simply trying to give you another perspective?"

Brusque temper flared unexpectedly as Sakura slapped his hand away from her body, glossy hair sprawling in her fierce orbs. "Don't speak so confidently about things you don't know of Sasuke and by any means don't you dare to justify your gruesome a criminal actions and your attitude towards me!"

Nose nearly bumping into the button of his own, she gnashed her teeth together unraveling a volcanic temper that sent Sasuke`s hormones into overdrive. "you know nothing about me or us! You are an enemy! You detain me forcibly and made me your prisoner!"

"I am protecting you which they don't, can't you see?!" he was raising his voice approaching her again, his palm wreathing around her nap forcing her chin skyward to meet his incessant glare, exasperation brimming through his vessels and this emotional dramatic moment did less than nothing to quench his own fire.

"Are you that blind Sakura? A Priestess is someone who is supposed to have a clearer vision about emotions and empathy, someone who can spiritually connect to everything around her and thus being granted a wiser and savvier perception but instead, you are being a manipulated brainwashed coreless butterfly with pined wings turned into the perfect puppet. You are the perfect prototype of a marionette Sakura and this is the only reason why your so called precious people have put you to so much misery and turned you into a pawn and a living target."

How words were hard as he rasped into her face inching closer to ebb those words into her mind through her wet eyes. She angered him because she didn't get it.

"The only thing that the Leaf is interested in is to protect the Chakra Fruit and for that, they had to find the perfect marionette to be a sacrifice that no one will ever shed a tear for, don't you see? Is this your definition of commitment and bond?" She was being used as Itachi and this is why Sasuke was resenting the Leaf, not Sakura per se.

He pitied her, she was pathetic beyond belief —a perfect victim and he was not even ashamed to consider _sobbing_ for her because anyone else would do.

She was the perfect heroine of a tragic drama. every tear of her was soaked in misery, pain and ambition, she was the vestige of Itachi`s sacrifice in vain, she was the living example of wicked ambition and decadent world who was not caring for peoples value. They deprived her from her past —her real _identity_.

"This... is of no importance to me," Sakura suspired to him and the pinnacle of acrimony in his orbs blazed like a pyre. "Since my Master and my Leaf comrades have fostered me dearly and trained me to become the woman that I am today. You will not manipulate me into turning against the Leaf Sasuke. I will not fall into the darkness you soak into so do not to smear me into your colors."

Of a demon... but it was one thing to remain pure and pristine while still loving a demon because love, no matter who was directed to or how she gave it to, if it was wholehearted, then it was still heavenly and purifying; love was always a lenitive remedy, a sanctifying.

"I am not trying to make you forgo your principles no matter how lamentable they are. I will never waste my time and invest my energy into something so pointless and feeble, on the contrary I am trying to make you open up those shrouded eyes and see the truth. Where is the brave kunoichi who didn't hesitate to jump into a suicidal fray with those Earth shinobi or engage me into a battle that was lost from the start? How can you shut down the call of the shinobi in you so flippantly without remorse?"

And do not fight against the disgusting deplorable ambitions and be complacent like Itachi? Itachi fighting for the Leaf was admirable, but a _manipulated_ Itachi voluntarily, obediently listening to orders without taking everything into his capable hands alone –like Sasuke was currently trying– was pathetic and a disgrace to his skill and intellect.

"Why do you act like you care?" She nearly shouted at him but her words blinded by tears were lacerating his heart; she was physically hit his body and spirit making him bleed and he flinched inside at those words.

Her broken spirit was affecting him and that was the reason why his fingertips burned literarily to curl around her waist and embrace her. He didn't.

"If I die or live... if I chose to love this Village and be faithful to it then why is this your problem Uchiha Sasuke?"

She nearly spat his name stating his family name meant that his interest was with his family and not her because she was NOT family.

Sasuke was stunned at how he associated her with Itachi and without realizing it, he placed her on the same level with his family on his mind automatically like she belonged there, like she was designed to be with him and share his surname– he stopped those stupid thoughts to saunter through his mind.

So thick headed and making the same mistake as Itachi and she annoyed him with that –he despised Tsunade and the Leaf for smearing and stealing her innocence even depriving her to feel a man in her life but he already had her intimately so he freed one of her locks.

He coveted to avenge Itachi by taking his female avatar –a sacrifice– and enfranchise her, making her free like Itachi was not. "Because I do care since you are doing just what my imbecile Nii–san did, stupid."

He clipped venomously and she felt her heart miss a beat at him evoking his brother here. "And seeing you repeating the same mistake is woeful and sickening. Make your own decisions Sakura and stop dancing on a melody that is not resonating with your rhythm and heart. Act based on your beliefs and not act like the others dictate you just because they think that it is the right way. You can still protect this Village that you love without taking bullshit from the others." Who do not hold the universal truths in anything; they protect it with the massacre and the Kyuubi.

"This Village is everything I have," her viridian irises slid downwards into her lap, nipping on her lower lip nervously. "My home, my soul, my past and present... my connection to this world, my reason to exist."

She was not sad but afraid –like Haku and Naruto– that she served no purpose and Sasuke`s heart clenched painfully before it thudded thunderously in his chest, painfully –her pain affected him too seeping through his vessels like poison.

"Without safeguarding the Chakra Fruit then I will be just a rusty leaf perishing into the wind when autumn comes."

Karmic cycle meant regeneration and she will bloom in another place and that was a universal majestic thought overshadowing her human limitation and expanding the narrow perspective about death that human feared and she felt soothed.

"In another existence, I hope that I can still be something or someone who can be of help to anyone... I want to protect this treasure here and still be caring towards the Leaf people... even though they currently resent me with a valid purpose."

Sasuke shook his head in disbelief. He wanted to both kiss her and smack her in the head. Just because she has given herself to him, sleeping with him did not imply that she was not impure anymore.

She was angelic and failed to see it clearly with her own eyes; moonlit orbs shrouded by intricate lies sewed by those filthy higher-ups of the Leaf.

And now being with a man –out of utmost feeling and genuine care and never because of lust– she was defining herself as a woman; it was not dirtiness, it was maturity and getting experience people were not solitary creatures, they wanted connectedness and another soul to share the loneliness. And so did her.

"This is more than pathetic. Your ideologies are old-fashioned, idiotic, naive and lame. How can someone willingly forgo their own principles in order to follow the orders of people who are only craving for their own good and never think about the destinies that they are ruining?"

Like the Council did with Itachi and that was the reason why Sasuke was trying to reflect over his actions, rewind his motives and ambitions based on the truth that he has found out about the coup d'état of the Uchihas and Danzo`s orders.

Or the Third Hokage`s silent acquiescing and acceptance of his suggestion, simply paddling backwards remaining a passive bystander and not strongly opposing him and forbidding him to interfere, hoping to understand what has been driving him to do something so outrageous based on how Sakura`s was succumbing into that decadent circus.

"So this is the reason why they trained someone like you to guard the Chakra Fruit," He continued pinning her with a smug intense stare nearly smirking victoriously when the latent fire within her enkindled like a torch blazing around her viridian–aureate irises so incandescent and vivid with embers dancing all around her beauteous orbs, captivating and intriguing him with her duality, mocking her.

"Because you have no ambitions for yourself and thus hindered behind the facade of innocence and moral virtue, you have become the most obedient lap dog which will never bite the hand of its master no matter how many blows it takes."

Sasuke knew that his epistles were harsh and derisive but he didn't moderate his way of speaking after all, taking nicely or harsher it was about perception and nuance and he was not the most polite man in the world either.

Up until now Sasuke has never actually acquiesced and understood Itachi dogmas and principles and that was the reason why Sakura`s resemblance to him was so intriguing to Sasuke; albeit he respected Itachi`s principles, he never fully comprehended where the unexplainable impulse to protect the Leaf and behold it dearly into that sense of ardent belonging coming from.

Sakura`s orbs were despondent and dejected but at the same time, there was an unusual powerful light simmering inside like a mini replica of a sun seeping all the squelched passion of a shinobi and a woman thought the way her irises were shattering the light in hues of forest emerald and gold.

" _I_ don't have any ambitions then… then what about _your_ ambitions? What`s the quintessence of them —vengeance and darkness? _Light_ cannot emerge from the darkness if one doesn't come in terms with his past and you Sasuke— are clearly still haunted by it."

"At least I am plagued by it like you suppose but unlike you, I _do_ have knowledge of my roots and ancestry."

Uchiha saw a furtive glimmer of forlornness in the fathomable of the Priestess` emerald eyes and suddenly the same poignancy doubled by an immense melancholy has creased through his chest too in resonance to the same solitude that connected them both virtually and spiritually.

Naturally, Sasuke energetically rejected such feelings as they reached towards him, porcelain small hands of children seeking for the ray of hope into the darkness, fervently implored him to take that coruscation of light as the right way back to the road that he has abandoned a long _long_ time.

But he definitely won't go back to twine those bonds again just to lose them one day because albeit bearing this risk into his mind was foolish and paranoid, Sasuke would rather not risk it all for a woman like... _her_.

"You did not fulfill your promise Sasuke," Obsidian filtered to those miniatures of emerald diamonds seeking for him dejectedly, darkening in confusion. "you did not disclose to me the history of your family like you promised in return for me revealing the location of the Chakra Fruit."

Ah— was _that_ what kept her waken up at night, Sasuke humorlessly snorted once strolling towards a scorching torch following the dancing of the embers projected in liquid shadows flickering onto the ornamented wall as his memories were being carried away by that hypnotic cadence; reminiscing those mementos that kept on revving through his mind like a train departing from an old abandoned station revving towards its final destination.

"To compel it in one single sentence Sakura... Konoha`s Council has ordered my elder brother Itachi —who was by then a prodigious member of the elites Anbu Black Ops— to help Konoha stop Uchiha Clan`s Coup d'état which was orchestrated by no one else than my _father_ Fugaku, but instead, he ended up whipping the entire clan all by himself in one dreadful night and leaving only one survivor behind; that survivor being _me_."

"W-What—" The story of the traitor who ended the reign of his family —a noble insanely strong clan that was— Uchiha Itachi who only left his younger brother behind for a reason unknown and joined a criminal organization was not occult to anyone in the Leaf Village, but Sakura has just been informed by one peculiar detail that was definitely eclipsed and only known into an exclusive circle.

* * *

"The Leaf`s H-High Council h-has... _ordered_ your brother to— oh Kami— this can`t be t-true... the H-Honorable _Third Hokage_ would have never—"

"—the _honorable_ Sarutobi Hiruzen was indeed a naive pacifist in his era who only sought to solve every problem and dilemma with words and diplomacy rather than relying on weapons and blood shedding but unfortunately he was a _bad_ Leader who wasn't capable to make his voice be heard and respected in the Council and thus made a plethora of errors; such as allowing someone as corrupt as Shimura Danzo to crawl into obscurity and nourish a mini army of brainwashed adepts —the Root— to serve his malicious interests —like keeping an amity of convenience with Orochimaru or Hanzo of the Salamander while Sarutobi entirely overlooked it courtesy to his so called _pacifism_. In reality I am _not_ blaming the Third Hokage for the downfall of my clan or the bad reputation of my brother and nor do I judge him for his convictions that man fought for what he believed in until the end and died with the concept of love and will of fire etched on his wrinkled face, but it does not mean that I acquiesce with it because now his mistakes are shining from the darkness and the results flourished into tears of blood and sorrow. Hence this shadow that looms from the _future_..."

She stared deep into his eyes as Sasuke`s hypnotic beautiful Sharingan irises seemingly carried her through the limbs of time and shown her details enigmatic to the majority.

Sakura understood the meaning behind his words; Sasuke meant the next generation of ninja who unfortunately carried the stigma and the sins of the previous generation and was desperately trying to cleanse their souls and purify from those demons in vain because up until now they have all been trapped into that infinite loophole without escape; that repetitive cycle of cursed omen and karma which latched like a shadow to their shoulders —and they were forced to bear that curse as the demon grew in a distinctive entity feeding from their overgrowing darkness.

Indirectly bespeaking that the _next_ generation still bore the curse of their _ancestors_ ; then how can one escape that curse and break it? Was Sasuke trying to vanquish and stop that dreadful karmic cycle by himself?

But unlike the majority of bloodthirsty fools for revenge, Sasuke Uchiha _knew_ about what was happening and managed to cause a rupture into that sewed veil of machinations and evil plots and look underneath deception; maybe his eyes were _not_ in the shadows anymore but definitely his heart still underwent the specks of that pain.

"Hiruzen didn't have fulll control over the Council and thus likes like Danzo had the nerve to intervene and take the reins. Danzo presented my brother an impending fate of the Uchiha —including me— by distorting his words and giving him a masked _ultimatum_ that no matter how you put it, the result was still be nefarious to Uchiha, while Hiruzen tried to go for a peaceful negotiation and maybe he would have succeeded because father was not an unreasonable man, but things went downhill when Itachi acquiesced to his truce —that in return for my brother teaming up with Konoha to murder the entire Uchiha clan, _I_ will be permitted to live of course, in the shadows of everything and continue my life as a proud _Leaf_ shinobi. Funny how I ended up being the entire _opposite_ deflecting from this pathetic village of idealistic nitwits, free from the spirits of my family`s spirits hauling me back here to be committed to someone who always despised us and looked at us in fear and hatred even going as far as to push us at the outskirts of the village where only _society`s rejects_ reside; those discriminated, hated and damned for their existence were."

"N-No you are wro—"

"—I now understand the amplitude of the sacrifice that my _dear_ brother had to make," it was the first time that the young Uchiha`s lush voice merged with emotion and endearment as the fluttering lights were playing in his eyes giving it a flicker of warmth as he blinked somehow being distant and far _far_ away from her addressing the ghosts rather than her.

"and I understand the implication of this impossible choice that a young inexperienced child had to make; Itachi was a genius yes— with an impeccable insight worthy of a future Hokage but still inexperienced and someone so crafty hands manipulating like Danzo knew exactly where to _strike_ in order to shatter the morals of that child... and push him into rushing to such a viperous faith. Because options to try and avoid an Uchiha-Konoha confrontations were multiple and less extreme. Rather than viewing one as part of the _society_ rather than part of his _family_ under the large umbrella of the so called 'The will of fire' is nothing but a negation of one`s ancestry; for peace, _both_ are necessary to coexist otherwise revenge and discrimination will inevitably lead to such tragedies."

There was so much insight into his mature epistles and so much understanding of his past that Sakura found it hard _not_ to drown into his story; as tragic and sinister as it was, outrageous and sprinkled with the shadows of the corrupt ambitions of the higher-ups.

"My brother has been persuaded by Danzo through mischievous machinations and slick smart words to draw the curtain to his clan as Danzo made it look like he was controlling something vital; _time_. He manipulated and fooled my brother think that he was running out of time in that impending tragedy and thus he speculated his love for me and our bonds in order to accomplish his ultimate goal and exterminate the Uchiha who were so difficult to deal with for someone like him."

Confessions that no one would have disclosed to her were overflowing Sakura`s and hitting her like million voltages and she felt like reeling into all that net as Sasuke`s Sharingan was revealing to her portions of Itachi`s memories.

"Oh— Sasuke…" His voice kept on evoking all those distant memories; he made it look like everything was real, like she was part of that nightmare with all those feelings that sizzled inside her chest electrifying her and the horrible images carved in the pages of history and well secluded into the Archives of the Hokage Tower; truths that those involved sworn to take into their graves.

"Why— was Shimura Danzo so against the Uchiha clan? Wasn`t he working in the benefit of the Leaf Village like he promised? And the Uchiha clan was Konoha`s Police Force —basically a key office into the administration!" Sakura found herself involuntarily protesting over the abuse of power.

"It`s difficult for me to consider this ideologies without evoking the perpetual silent curse of the Second Hokage who started this drift in the moment he pushed the Uchiha towards the environs of the Village and entrusted them with precisely such a valuable task; the defense. Because the ones who are in charge of the safety of the Village are usually the first ones to be accused of corruption, abuse of power and of course the failures in justice. For instance the Kyuubi attack from when Naruto was born,"

Sakura gasped silently again as she tucked on the folds of her yukata as her heart was trembling like a broken violin`s string upon realizing the implication of Sasuke`s confessions; everything was in intimate relation and nothing was isolated.

They were all part of that immense masquerade all wearing different masks, different roles in the same play.

"that incident was nothing else than a fallacious plan of the man who calls himself Tobi the real leader of the Akatsuki who summoned the beast out of revenge and made it look like a fortuitous disaster letting the natural flow of events lead to Uchiha`s blame for summoning, controlling and not intervening into their incident using our keeke genkai —the Sharingan or... the _cursed_ power of our darkness, like Tobirama Senju fancied to mock it."

This is where he tittered humorless as those insults weren't touching him as young adult —not anymore.

Her laborious breath was the result of a frail pristine heart being exposed to venom, poisoned and darkness and flyspecks of shimmering sweat was percolating along her temples as she gasped at him.

"After the sorrow and the torment of the massacre has been swept away from my memories I realized it that Itachi couldn`t have killed all of our kinsmen all by himself; and the same _Tobi_ has aided him in this act for a reason that is still obscure to me. Of course, Itachi has told me before he died that Uchiha Madara was still alive but even he wasn't alert of everything that happened behind the drown curtains. Orochimaru and Kabuto discovered that Uchiha Madara is not the man who calls himself Tobi but then the question lingers — _who_ exactly is Tobi and what is his involvement with the real Uchiha Madara who is supposed to be dead for years."

"This... is this the real _truth_? How c-could have the Third acquiesce to something so... _horrible_ like the assassination of an entire Clan? And what is the scope of disposing the annihilation of so many innocent people, elders, women and defenseless _children_?"

Flyspecks of tears welled into her luscious eyes brushing past her long eyelashes as she glimmered rapidly as the view of Sasuke`s profile blurred and dissipated into a maze of simmering droplets.

Sasuke`s mien was impassive, austere —too stoic— disimpassioned and very distant to everything but she was far too enthralled by what he was divulging to construe the real emotion flittering into the depths of those sable eyes.

She couldn't believe that something so horrible has been orchestrated behind the closed doors of the Konoha`s Council.

"T-This entire— it didn't solve _anything_ on the contrary it brought _you_ and... your _brother_ so much grief and pain... and this is so _wrong_ we— people must find a balance, a harmony to live together in pace albeit there are contradictory opinions separating us!" She was starting to get the picture.

"A-And now you have come back to take _revenge_ and killed the higher-ups of the village... the ones who buried your family into the abyss of time because nowadays hardly anyone talks about the Uchiha anymore! Oh dear _Kami-sama_ —"

Sasuke didn't need her tears of empathy or compassion but at the same time he felt moved even for a brief by the sincerity behind her words.

Now that everything started to sink in and be absorbed by this pristine woman who has lived in chastity and isolation he felt like he had someone trustful and unbiased to confess and albeit he was a lonely person with stable emotions and hardly someone who entrusted people with his secrets, Sakura truly felt like something sacrosanct, an iconic living image of an angel who wouldn't judge and had the power to _forgive;_ just like he himself has long forgiven the Leaf Village for their criminal disposition and ineptitude to find a better solution because his family was definitely not a singular case.

Naruto has also been through this before as well as his family.

"I do not harbor any feelings of remorse for the Leaf Village if that`s what you imagine Sakura. I`ve long grown over such infantile misconceptions of mine since I realize that ambition and mistakes are all attributes of a _person_ —with both his flaws and qualities. It`s so futile to judge now and the saying 'eye for an eye' belongs to an old and primitive governing. I cannot castigate innocent people in the same way that my family has been assassinated and thus the once idea that simmered inside my mind —to _crush_ the Leaf Village in affiliation to one of his number one enemy Orochimaru— now seems like something childish that I am nowhere near proud about."

If Sakura was startled by Sasuke`s parsing she did nothing to conceal it on the contrary her emotions were rippling in rhythmic effluences while every single gesture and mimic was revealing to how absorbed she was by his words.

Albeit she trusted it that this time Sasuke wasn't trying to manipulate her with his words and beckon her to fall for his words and see from his perspective, no.

He was completely non-partisan to his own story as his words went smoother and more detached —suspiciously circumspect.

"At that time… I haven't fully grasped Nii-san`s sacrifice and neither did I grasp Konoha`s impossible decision —to take extreme measures against its own citizens to protect the entire Village from them; but their ineptitude to sort out a dispute erupting within the Village still stains its history and I am determined not to let this happen again. Past mistakes of our predecessors are something that shall never happen again and yet I have travelled around the world enough to know that things like this always happen —innocent people are killed because there aren`t solutions so maintain a balance and there are not tools and strings to maintain the order. Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama have created this Village in order to maintain peace and order and consequently a village which fails to ensure its people`s safety fails its purpose."

A suspicious fever was still simmering along his temples but Sasuke momentarily ignored it in lieu of unfurling truths that he normally wouldn't divulge to anyone but his exclusive circle of friends; but somehow Sakura coaxed him into telling her the truth but contrary to popular belief, he was way _over_ his teenage years of naivety and blinded by revenge, inexperienced and easily manipulated like all those teens his age.

Now he was not the man to use brute force to impose his ideology to anyone, but _words_. He was a far cry from Sasuke the _pure_ oblivious child or the naïve flamboyant teenager, easy to manipulate who would savagely leash to everything that was seemingly related to Uchiha`s tragedy.

Sasuke, as well as Naruto have both realized that words and mutual understanding as well as good communication and savoir-faire between people represented real power; if someone weak was capable of handling words with ability then he could enjoy the tastiest wine in a golden goblet and no one would be able to conquer his empire.

 _Words…_ only words were capable to quell the fervor for war and create solid bridges between people.

And that was the reason why he poured so much zeal into conversing with a woman that was hardly someone familiar to him —because he didn't want it to appear like he was _forcing_ the truths out of her mouth.

Or maybe that inwardly he was still seeking forgiveness from the Heavens for all his sins and consequently atonement in front of his deceased family for his ineptitude to handle the situation, as young as he was at that time; that he lacked Itachi`s genius insight to realize what was orchestrating around his naive self while he was pampered with the false promise of security and idyllic childhood days.

 _I was a fool…_

Only one feeling has always been real amidst the Uchiha. And that was undeniably _love._ The miracle blooming from the seemingly dark and cursed roots ingrained deep into the history of that clan.

And that immeasurable love that no other clan preserved flourished into a latent unsurpassed _passion._

Uchihas were passionate and exuberant in everything that they do as much as they appeared to be always cold, calm, composed and unable to publicly exteriorize their sentiments and that was the sublime beauty of their manner of displaying affection —through kosher intimacy.

And that was exactly what Sakura was so clearly perceiving everytime she was in Sasuke`s vicinity.

She felt such a strong connection that transcended the barriers of words and translated into meaningful glances, deep caresses with much sentiment, symbolic subtle touches, a fleeting softness into heir unswerving conniption and a serenity twined with those coltish swarms of butterflies.

They flittered into her tummy and chest like the pinnacle of the first teenage love; so pure and powerful like touching the most shimmering star with the tip of her fingertips.

It was poetic, transcendental and incredibly erotic but in such a plethora of feelings without borders or secrets.

"A-And wouldn`t you want to... let the whole world know about your family and your b-brother`s sacrifice, _Sasuke_?"

"No, _no_ ," He shook his head calmly resolution painting his smooth tranquil words as they blended with the rhythmic cadence of the droplets of rain pelting on the windows and the front porch, drumming soothingly against the sculpted wood and percolating along the eaves.

" I never intend to make this page written in blood be known into the history the Leaf. The Elders from the Council who sworn secrecy also took a good decision to keep it as a secret from anyone. There is no use for striving to make my brother look like a dark hero, my family be pitied or damned for their treason or the Leaf to reveal its poor management because that would benefit to no one. What if Itachi`s name would be cleansed of the dirty and restored? That is already superfluous and unnecessary since _I_ know the truth alone with the few people who... _matter_."

This is where his voice turned fallacious and specious as he trailed the last word and the first shocking thing was the actually hear Uchiha Sasuke refer to someone as being important to him and then she vaguely consider if _she_ was pertaining to that privileged category no actually comprehending her reason for actually _hoping_ that she did.

"My brother`s wish was for it to be forever buried in sand and wither trapped between the sepia pages of Konoha`s Archives and I, as the Uchiha`s lone survivor of the massacre and his younger _brother_ will courtly respect and treasure his decision... his last _Will_."

 _Itachi entrusted me not only his powers but his memories too… his dreams and I am to shoulder the weight of his sacrifice as in return, he freed me from Uchiha`s ancestral_ _curse_ _._

"What do you mean by the last of the _survivors_ of the massacre?"

If the situation would have been less tense and more rutilant then Sasuke would have smirked at how intuitive and keen this woman was, albeit she was breathing laboriously and her chest heaved rhythmically as she was visibly overwhelmed by what he was disclosing.

He also noted her staccato steps padding over the wooden flooring as she closed in to him coming to rest on the other side of the window glancing towards the storm and gulping lightly trying to hid her anxiousness form him; but he noticed the _fear_ glimmering into her eyes at the storm and suddenly a similar image of Sakura being apprehensive of storms popped up into his head making him wonder... "Technically Sakura… I am _not_ the only Uchiha living."

There was a hunch... like a sudden flicker of an undiscovered little miracle that kindled into Sasuke's savvy mind as common logic overlapped his sorrow and the other`s manipulative words weren't reaching him anymore but he was even afraid to murmur it into the silence of his conscience in fear not to be pierced by the blade of disillusion despair again and that was the reason why an antsy silence fell between the two of them, while Sakura hungry sought for his expressive orbs but it was difficult to depict those amazing eyes of his with all the penumbras veiling his profile and the sable locks that spilled on his face;; he turned his head from her sighing heavily.

"W-What?! H-How come… what do… you mean by that?" She swore that his shoulders tensed firmly but fleetingly almost instantaneously and all of the emotions playing on his kinesics dissipated under the nebula of his unruffled stoicism —the impenetrable armor that shielded his feelings from the others` penetrating gazes.

"That night—" Moistening his lips with the tip of his tongue as he still felt the vestiges of fever creasing though his system scorching his body from inside out and swallowing the ration in his mind, somehow sounding _insecure_ about his next words and that was also baffling to Sakura who was unraveling more and more hidden colors of his spectrum.

"—Nii-san and _that_ man have killed our brethren..." Of course that common logic alerted Sasuke about a potential accomplice with his brother but that was only a part of what his senses were trying to convey to him.

"...as they infiltrated into their homes, the Uchiha Police Force and basically everyone _in_ the former Uchiha District, _but_..."

"…but—" It was just obvious that Sasuke was not a man of so many words and he already delivered quite the speech that night and it wasn't that he wasn't eloquent or had poor communicational skills, only that he liked to use fewer and more forward words and hoped that his interlocutors would immediately perceive what he wanted to convey; he absolutely despised idiots who didn't grasp the insight of his words and Sakura was thankfully not falling into that category.

So Sasuke just trailed and glimmered while his distant orbs pinned a certain intricate decoration on the opposite wall that caught his eye for an unknown reason while Sakura rapidly understood that she had to follow that train of thoughts and complete his sentence, so she murmured shyly proceed with cautious because _that_ was her play stage, the ground she stood.

As a Priestess she was bound to listen and depict what was in the others` souls and thus she felt more in her element there, albeit Sasuke was a very complicated enigmatic man.

"…but y-your brother and t-that mystery man… _Tobi_ have defeated everyone from the Uchiha Clan and it was rather easy to do it in utmost quietude and secrecy since all of them has been relocated to the outskirts of the Village and entrusted with the Police Force... within the boundaries of this now abandoned ghost town— _but..."_

This is where her train of thoughts have been lost albeit she pointed a subtle detail that didn't slip past Sasuke`s vigilance —that his family have been an outcast to the borders of the Village, surrounded from all the sides so as to be heavily _guarded_ and under surveillance but at the same time have a minimum contact to the exterior.

"…wait a second… this… this means that—" Then it jarred through her mind like a bolt in synch with a violent lightning discharging into the back yard near the spring that momentarily made her heart rev into her chest; realization finally hit home, lodging into the front of her mind.

"—ah!" Shakily, Sakura jerked from the window in surprise with a hand placed over her chest and her orbs filling with apprehension. "oh Kami— what a _storm_ …!" Viridian orbs sliding back to Sasuke`s intense obsidian pools, she let logic overflow her mind again carrying on unraveling his enigmatic puzzle.

"... _Sasuke_ —you said that the Uchiha clan has been massacred _within_ the borders of the Uchiha District but— what about the... is there a smidgen of a chance that there were also Uchiha who were _not_ present into the Village in that night? Like— they were fulfilling other tasks, missions, duties _outside_ the Village and _survived_ the tragedy?"

Here is where their stares met into a spine-tingling confrontation as he did something that sent shivers along her spine and she visibly trembled as her hands felt like two ice blocks; he nodded to her firmly once, slipping his hands into his pockets and resting his shoulder against the wall in a seemingly lackadaisical gesture.

Inwardly however, Sasuke couldn't have been anymore tensed because that was the second time when he was probing this theory without someone else and it sent adrenaline churning inside his blood.

* * *

"I confronted my brother about this before he died." He didn't go into much trivia about the scenario because the beautiful beam unfurling his last farewell as his finale approached and swallowed him was a haunting memory ebbed into his mind.

"And what... did he say? Did he confirm it to you or…?"

"He said that everyone lives with false preconceptions that we deem as reality." And Sasuke knew now what that meant since the truth has been revealed to him and it partly marked Itachi`s biased words —that occult machinations veiled from the public`s eyes orchestrated everything from the shadows and nothing was what it looked like.

Basically Itachi has invited Sasuke to contemplate, to mediate and look underneath the underneath of everything, ruminate and never take the words of others for granted because there was more insight and depth into everything —just like his story.

And now he was using the same logic to his inkling. "So he did not entirely negate it but Sasuke... is there really a possibility of _more_ Uchiha to have escaped the massacre because coincidentally they were not into the Village in that night?"

 _Bingo!_

"Even when Father used to summon the Uchiha for as secret gathering there were always absent members of the clan trapped into their own daily problems and mostly fulfilling their duties as Leaf Shinobi. I do not remember any time where _all_ the Uchiha were present into the Village —let alone the district— for an hour, let alone an entire night. And I personally dug into the problem ravaging the Leaf _and_ the Root`s Archives for the confirmation that there was absolutely _no_ evidence or order that all the Uchiha member shall mandatory be present into the District in _that_ cursed night. Of course... it would have been too obvious and suspicious of such an order would have been passed and thus idiotic and useless."

"B-But— Sasuke..." her heels pelting against the cool bamboo flooring, have been pulled like a magnet to Sasuke as Sakura strolled towards him cutting the distance in a thirst to see him closer and look into those onyx eyes _deeper_ like fearing that not melting that span between them meant that the truth wouldn't be able to reach her.

Uchiha surprisingly didn't flinch away from her in the bit and there was only one step separating them and the air between them turned electric and hot.

"...albeit common logic leads to this direction that there might indeed be scattered survivors around the shinobi world, then how come the Leaf has left such a major inconvenient pothole into all that outrageous plan? I say inconvenient for them of course..."

She quickly corrected herself albeit she didn't need to because Sasuke knew all too well that Sakura would never wish for the downfall of his clan.

"It was not something that the Leaf has overlooked Sakura but rather something insignificant. Probably they have chosen a specific day in which the _majority_ of the Uchiha District inhabitants were present realizing that if there were chance survivors on the outskirts they would probably be too mentally impotent to attempt a revolt and seek revenge —like _I_ did and they have been right; there is no single trace of them anywhere and thus the Uchiha is now branded as extinct. Only logic and a sudden hunch lead me to this surmise... I don't have tangible proofs and neither has anyone from the supposing surviving Uchiha tried to contact me and I _did_ travel around the Shinobi world. One of the reasons was precisely that but I never shared it with the majority of my comrades, in fact, only Naruto, Karin, Juugo, Suigetsu and Shikamaru are aware of this. Shikamaru thinks the same —that the possibility of every single Uchiha to be present in the Village at that time is impossible. And also the reverse is possible and has actually been confirmed and registered and thus I have a solid ground to base my assumption on."

Not even if the Leaf smartly chose a day of a big celebration or a holiday of great significance to the Uchiha —something in relation to their spiritual Leader— the chances for _all_ the members of the Clan —every. single. one. of. them— to be amassed in the Uchiha District were a hundred percent; because that was downright impossible, considering their fairly large number, their commitment to their duties, the amount of missions that they had to carry and their dedication.

"Reverse? What do you mean by that?"

"Danzo kept all the records about this Uchiha massacre safely stored into the vaults of the Foundation's Archives under strict surveillance. There I found the names, ranks and statuses of all the bodies left behind after the massacre; and naturally _non-Uchiha_ shinobi and even civilians have been found dead in that night."

"Oh dear Kami—" Sakura murmured as she pressed her palms over her temples and pressed on them as a throbbing headache was starting to build up; but mostly the pain she felt from Sasuke`s heart-jerking confessions was implacable.

Sakura fought with every single impulse in her body to _embrace_ him as he led her to that journey towards the darkest moment in Uchiha's history.

And the fact that he used his Sharingan to support his words with actual _images_ transpiring into her mind was overwhelming but thankfully he let the bloodiest details away not wanting to torture her mentally with his Sharingan.

"This can`t be true... I would have never imagined the Leaf to be so _maleficent_ and cruel!"

 _Heh, they have enshrined you -an innocent foreigner without known ancestry and parents- into this abominable secluded place far from human contact didn`t they?_

He thought humorlessly clicking on his tongue as he knew better than anyone else that this world was nowhere near the solstice of perfection and purity on the contrary... the Heads of the Villages did everything in the name of the so called 'Village safety'.

"I can fathom where you come from as a Priestess Sakura but remember that this world is soaked in sin and encompassed by darkness. The almighty prestigious Tsuchikage has used the Akatsuki multiple times in wars, retorting to the power of well-trained mercenaries; rogue criminals _paid_ to kill without mercy."

"Where are they now Sasuke? Where is the remaining of your family… well— supposing that your theory is correct? Have you tried to locate them to establish a connection, have a contact something— _anything_?"

Her creamy voice sounded strained like she was fighting to smother her tears; and Sasuke could not blame her in fact, he applauded her for being so smart and handling with this mind-blowing confession with such self-discipline.

"This is _not_ a top priority for me Sakura albeit I do plan to _symbolically_ restore the Uchiha Clan and redeem its name, making it respected and evoked on people`s lips again giving it a glimmer of its former glory. But the restoration that I have in mind meaning that I want to find the _true nature_ of our ancestry; I want to know what the Uchiha means for me, for the Village and what was my family`s role into the history? Are we solely _darkness_ in opposition to the light that entombs the peace and the _Will of Fire_ or are we a strong pillar of _support from the shadows_ like my brother Itachi? I want to answers to this questions in order to formulate my own ideology; I will definitely walk my own way instead of foolishly traipse blindly along the paths that others have paved for me."

Meaning that he will never be manipulated again and walk towards a path that others have already set for him —be it faith or his bother or his family, because escaping the Uchiha curse meant to liberate from the hinges of his clan`s _umbrella, protection and name._

Sasuke strived to raise to the pinnacle of his power on his own and using his own powers and nor rely solely on his good family`s name, because it took more than just a name and the privileges that came along with it for one to become strong.

"But it is not something that I entirely overlook on the contrary I will think of the best way to try and find a trace that leads me to the surviving Uchihas— that _if_ they are indeed real and not the product of what _I_ inwardly wish to be; the product of my illusions, imagination."

"How can _I_ help you Sasuke? There must be something that even I can do for you... something that you can use to dig into the darkness and reach to the light."

"These are personal affairs that have nothing to do with you Sakura, so stay away of my business. I kept my part of the promise to tell you the truth but… there is nothing more that _you_ could do."

"What— disclosing something so private to another means that you let that one person one step _into_ your deception, into your heart! And this is the reason why you disclose it to me right? because you wanted to let me in, you wanted me to know you sought desperately for someone to shoulder this, to know of your _pain_ , to share it to... feel it; feel what you have once felt and alleviate it ultimately!"

He just stared and she expected him to snap but he didn't; he was serene, impassive, too calm but cold and empty —that emptiness in his voice, in his eyes percolating from his soul was haunting, plaguing, demonic an burnt her.

"I never had any other intentions when disclosing this to you Sakura _but_ the sole reason of keeping a promise to you. In return for you disclosing he location of the Chakra Fruit, I have agree to tell you the truth about the Uchiha massacre so as to prove it to you that I am a man of my words and I wouldn't disgrace me or my family`s name by using _force_ to get the truth out of your lips. That would be so inelegant for a man and something that only a coward would do —which I am definitely _not._ "

He was lying to her in terms of his feelings of course but admitting to her that she was right meant that he would expose and accept a vulnerability; and Sasuke wasn't making this compromise with her.

"I-I am so _sorry_ Sasuke," The thatch of hair at the back of his nape aligned with the peculiar spikes and cold shivers grazed his skin at her ariose tone; pity was exactly what he didn't need from her. "I am sorry for… everything!"

"I don`t need any commiseration or sympathy from you." _Or your tears._

"I am not pitying you Sasuke on the contrary, it`s the other way around. I find it worthy of all the praise that you have successfully managed to strengthen your resolve and found the courage to pursue the roads of finding the truth rather than indulging into destroying this Village. You are hardly someone who is worthy of being wept for."

Rather than fructify the chance she had to approach him tenderly Sakura felt her mind addle with a brume of confusion and disbelief not quite processing clearly what the Leaf has been capable of doing to the Uchiha clan; even though they attempted to start a coup d'état.

She didn't need Sasuke to tell her the story of the Uchiha and Senju en detail because there was no secret to anyone that slowly but steadily Uchiha fell in disgrace and penumbra.

Not only they were strong but they also have ambitions and this collided with the best interests of the Leaf as someone so superior in skill an intellect would always be seen with an apprehensive and cautious look by the rest.

The discrimination was something that occurred as a natural response to the altercations between Senju —who were having a greater influence— and Uchiha. "Whatever. I hope that you will keep your mouth shut about this."

"Who else would I be telling it? I am a— _former_ Priestess and thus I still value morals. I won't say anything that you don't want me to Sasuke; you can trust me."

 _Trust her_ , those epistles echoed inside his mind like the haunting gust of the night affecting him in ways that they should never.

Rather than simply confide in her they both knew that to preserve something so astounding Sasuke would rather _kill her_ than having her ruin his plans. "Hn."

"What happened in the underground where the Chakra Fruit is hidden Sasuke? What happened to _you_ afterwards or rather— what _happens_ to you because as far as I am concerned,"

She swept her palm towards his forehead brushing off his damp raven locks from his temples frowning lightly at the simmering temperature lacerating his perspiring skin. "you still reel in a light fever…"

Unexpectedly he encircled her wrist and eluded her touch like she augmented that delirious unusual fever that settled into his mind, clicking on his tongue in exasperation.

Why was she still trying to **reach** him so clingy when his tenue was so expressive in not wanting her to get close and personal to him.

Was it because he was sleeping with her? "What has truly occurred into the secret cavern of the Chakra Frit Sasuke? What happened to _you_?"

Noiselessly, Sasuke gave her mien a fleeting perusal while she glanced earthwards cupping his hand and flipped his palm, a thin frown grazing her visage as she laved her luscious lips with the tip of her tongue, serenely addressing him like she was a smidgen of a moon`s rays spilling into the room in shimmering pale fragments.

The Priestess` entire skin was carved and painted like glazed porcelain having a peculiar radiance that made Sasuke curious about this woman —here in her natural element she appeared more beautiful than ever; soft like the wing of a butterfly.

"What is this symbol of the crescent moon and why is it tattooed on _you_ palm? And why the _left_ palm precisely?"

For one more meaningful moment he adamantly let his stygian orbs stare incessantly at her rail-thin figure then glanced downwards at his own hand with an intelligible expressions dancing on the penumbras looming over his handsome profile.

"It`s," he faltered for a moment seeking for the most appropriate word to express what he was feeling. "complicated."

"How so?"

"You wouldn`t understand."

"Why would you say that? You really think that my naivety also makes me dumb—"

"—no," He interjected softly, shaking his head lackadaisically while his transfixed inky orbs seemed so far away… so absent from that room. "it is because not even _I_ fully understand it but, you might even consider it as a rightful _gift._ "

"How can it rightfully be something that belongs to you if it is a disinterested present?" He mentally smirked at her intelligence and the way with her words; this woman was…

"Because I must confirm what I have been told with someone else who shall see this place?"

"Someone else as in," Sakura trailed, gulping visibly when the knot at the back of her throat pressed too hard onto her chest, being antsy and anxious about the prospect of others see this place. "…who?"

"Hn." He eluded her feeling that he shan`t disclose so many things to her; the more she got involved then the more —annoying— she will be exposed to that threat and he somehow didn't want her to get tangled into his mess.

"Learn to mind your own business Sakura." He has already been too explicit with a _prisoner_ and all those new feelings huddled into his chest started to annoy him; he would rather reject bonds that he once had than suffer again, go through that hell again and Sakura was only replaying the moments vividly into his mind, searching happiness in a barren place.

Everything inside Sasuke was dead; at least that was hew he felt reeling in obscurity and plus, he had more pressing problems than to play little romances with a Priestess. "You already know too much."

His last words had a hint of a _threat_ into them like he would never hesitate in _silencing_ her if she didn't shroud his secret into the depths of her mind, sealing it on her tongue.

It was already getting out of his hand the fact that his hormones fulminated with vehemence pushing him to sleep with her more than once.

Raking a hand through his hair nervously he paddled around the room pretending that she wasn't there while she continued to watch him in grave silence, trying to depict what was causing such a ferment in his mind.

Because it was pretty obvious from the way his stormy eyes blitzed worse than the increasing storm outside that he was thinking about whatever happened in to cavern where the Chakra Fruit was lodged, something malicious that he refused to disclose to her.

But what should he think about the entire ordeal if Uchiha himself had no idea of what was going on with him.

He only knew that an immeasurable alien chakra, more formidable than he has ever encountered sudden sputtered to him violently and went through him, dissipated through his body and then he started to gear _that_ voice of a man who was having an outré connection to him, but his epistles were ancestral and intelligible and far too fictional to be taking seriously.

Sasuke`s ration alerted him about a possible protective shield acting like a barrier of chakra cast around the Fruit to hinder anyone from approaching it and thus he was having nightmares and hallucinations because of that Jutsu but...

His Mangekyou Sharingan should have seen right through any Jutsu showing him in details what he needed to know but at the same time, he saw things with his mind`s eye that he deemed as a fruit of hypnosis and delirious mind reeling in that strange fever; probably he has been careless in trying to dab that monstrosity but somehow... he could not help himself.

When the Chakra Fruit enfolded before his orbs starting to spill those vivid images to him, Sasuke felt a magnetic connection to that power; like someone was calling him from another time, another existence like... waiting for him to finally return to where it belonged.

It was a sickening dark version of sleeping with Sakura, basking into the same sensation of plenitude and returning home, to where his essence resided —his _true_ nature.

And that was something that made Sasuke let out a humorless laugh. What an idiotic superfluous comparison...

That was the reasons why he needed that _dobe_ to see that Chakra Fruit and, using his Sage Mode that would allow him to immediately connect to the _nature_ itself in combo with that beast residing inside of him which seemed to be a fragment of that somehow familiar power residing in limitless portions in the Fruit, he could provide an explanation of its origins.

Because that _thing_ was definitely not something that belonged to the mortals, on the contrary it looked like a vestige of a _God`s_ power —the source, the quintessence of all the chakra flowing through all the shinobi veins.

Also, he knew things that he wasn't supposed to be alert of and didn't know the source of but that shadow clinging to his own, lurking and looming like a demon from the past traversing centuries and generations was still keeping him under observation and struggling to find a weak point in his mind to sneak inside and take over again.

Sasuke knew that when he —regrettably— made love with Sakura _again_ , he was not being himself but someone else, possessed by that shadow with the thirst for vengeance and blood more ominous than anything else.

And it seemed to be trying to make old mismatched and insecure feelings of his past self-hating his older brother and the Leaf resurface; and Sasuke realized that was where the danger resided —in his own mind.

One thing was for sure though; somehow... he felt a new power simmering through his vessels. He was stronger in ways that he couldn't define, but he felt it sound and clear —the sublime power.

An incredible power that felt like nothing he has ever experienced has been gifted to him but now the problem was... _what_ was it for?

And why _him_? So many questions without response made his mind go into a furor of contradictions ready to burst and all his internal fever didn't go unnoticed by an extremely worried Sakura.

Silent as a crane`s flight and pure as the petals of a water lily, she was following Uchiha`s erratic pacing through the room keenly having her hands grouped in a praying mode, unconsciously sending her message to Kami-sama to help Sasuke find his peace and road again.

"What is bothering you now Sasuke?" She dared to murmur to him as her voice was barely audible; but the man heard her nonetheless.

"Not your damn business." His growl was cold again, lone and distance just like the droplets of the heavy rain outside, trimming to her heart painfully as his rejection sounded vehement and harsh.

He didn`t want to let her more inside, to be so _weak_ for this frail star without a name falling from the sky.

Sasuke needed that loathsome rain to stop purring in vain so that he could return to the former Hokage Tower and ravage the Archives in search for a clue of what started to get the contour of a hunch into his mind.

Karma be damned he was caged here in a solitary Shrine on a high peak with dangerous slippery valleys and muddy soaked roads making it impossible for him to go back to the Village, with a… Priestess nonetheless.

A dazzling beautiful young Priestess with gazelle long legs, creamy perfumed skin and an innocence that he just _craved_ to corrupt.

He felt like going crazy if he stayed one more second into that golden cage and thus he abruptly swiveled on his heel and dashed towards the glissading door pulling it open brutally as it slammed against the wooden hinges, the sinister sound screeching along the darkened corridors, heading straight to the main room.

"Sasuke— wait where are you going?" And of course that she meticulously joggled after him; her light steps in sync with the rain droplets pelting against the windows were haunting him.

Sasuke barely kept himself from pivoting around and stop that Priestess from chasing after him —even killing her so as he could find silence and peace again _without_ her annoying —warm— presence. "Sasu—"

"—don`t pursue me."

Hastily she scurried after him joggling to fall into steps with his long strides. "Why do you want to go outside for Sasuke? You cannot return to the Village on this weather! You are going to be caught into this violent storm and something might happen to you—"

"—so what if it does, huh?" Briskly, he turned his head over his shoulder seething and trying to pulverize her adamant insistency to follow him with _that_ kind of flaming stare alone, his voice shrouded in a dark veil.

"Why would _you_ care if something bad happens to _me_? Isn't it a reason for you to elaborate that I, the savage monster that keeps you a prisoner is dead and thus you can fly freely from me?"

"What— what are you talking about? How can you ever imagine that I would want for you to be hurt? You only know me _that_ much Sasuke?"

"Stop being a hypocrite Sakura!" He nearly shouted as they were both rinsed by the rain, soaked to the bones with fabric clothes stuck to their forms enhancing every peak, every bud, her breast, his pectorals, both barely seeing each other; eyelash fluttering to dissipate the droplets that fell into their eyes leaking from their foreheads and lips splintered by droplets.

"is the thing that I hate the more about you... _Priestess_. I am sick of your trifling lectures of that I am no need of. So _fuck off_ and leave me the hell alone."

"No!" She still was so annoying and her crescendo seemingly care was making him feel violent; but he knew that such rage wasn't belonging to him.

Something or rather... someone was telling him, chanting it to him to turn around and _kill_ that woman, but of course that he managed to stop himself form doing something inutile and regrettable. "No I will not leave you alon— _Ah_!"

His lean digits encircling her throat clasping into a determined hard grip and squeezing her twice so as the oxygen supply has been abruptly cut stopped her as her chest nearly pressed into his own with her small hands encircling his strong wrists while the veins bulging from his bicep and his forearm betrayed his level of fervor and the force he applied; he was choking her and she coughed pleading with her eye more than her voice for him to let her go; he only tightening his hold around her neck more his obsidian orbs simmering with hatred.

Did he hate her that much so as he would end her life right in front of her Shrine?

What type of monster was Uchiha Sasuke, she vaguely wondered in despair as her knees wobbled and nearly gave off, her mind reeling from the lack of air, her lungs burning and her emerald orbs moistening with burning tears, injecting her orbs with prickly liquid.

Searching for his face, pleading, imploring, _still_ bearing concern and care for him —a demon who lost the way to the light. "S-S-Sa-su-ke..."

Her words barely audible from the roaring thunderstorms that mad her heart leap whenever the strike close to them.

Sasuke didn't even flinched or shrieked back from the storm, only continuing to keep a sturdy hold around her neck with full intent churning into those eyes.

 _Kill her_ , that voice in his head which seemed to multiple and go in resonance chanted _, kill her now... kill her and get free from any useless_ _bonds_ , he was clearly hallucinating by now as Sakura`s image melted into the droplets making her look like a phantasm struggling into his arms in a pathetic gesture to free herself.

 _Don`t let her make you weak again and steal what is rightfully yours... like they once did to your belonged family._

There was when Sakura`s hands fell in silent acceptance to her defeat as she realized that she didn't have enough strength to fight off that monster so she simply relaxed into his hold while the pain started to fade away along with her conscious now wishing to see Sasuke`s face once more before everything about painted obsidian, but the one of the man who made _love_ to her and not the one of the possessed monster whose obsession for power and thrust for vengeance remerged.

Emerald orbs being draped by heavy lids fought to stay awake as her lips summoned his name one more time, not as a plea to spare her life but like a _prayer_ from someone who _forgave_ his sinful act alleviating him of that curse. "Sa—su—ke—"

 _Sasuke…_

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 _Sasuke... let`s meet again in the Afterlife and there we can finally be free from our cursed destinies._

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* * *

"Tsunade-sama," Worried olive orbs were boring into the drowsy oolong-tea orbs lost in a limbo zone and barely focusing on the tenth cup of sake as the strong fragrance of the beverage was simmering from every puff of air that she exhaled, lecturing her gently —as she didn't dare to nudge or reel the peppery woman with provocative tone.

"you shouldn't drink more. This is the eleventh glass, for Kami`s sake and besides," She leaned onwards to moan in a hushed worried manner so as the suspicious bartender wouldn't take notice of their small 'problem'.

"how are we going to pay for the dinner, the expensive drinks and the accommodation if you have bet the last of our money in the last town`s casin—"

"— _Oi_ Shizune," Her voice was slurring in soaked drunkenness while coherence failed her entirely, barely keeping her heavy lids from draping her intoxicated orbs; they were reeling in pain and sorrow albeit her thin bittersweet smirk completed the image of a mourning widow whose beloved husband has found his heroic ending in a noble battle and she has just received his goodbye letter with lines sprinkled of his confession of love, regret and encouragement for her to carry on in life without him.

"stop pestering me with such trivial things as — _h-hicc_ — _money_ ," She dipped down the table encircling her index finger the rim of her glass following how the last droplets of the strong alcoholic beverage were burning against its transparent bottom, cupping her simmering tears that were occasionally refreshing the dried fine marks of her old ones and mixing into the beverage; giving it the peculiar tinge of _despair_ and immeasurable solitude that became her faithful companion.

"I am just _-hiccc-_ trying to forget—"She hindered abruptly as Shizune`s mien metamorphosed into the one of pure sympathy for her master, impotent to do anything to soothe her grief but be a shoulder to cry on, a confident, a faithful companion. "—that _idiot."_

"You know what _-hiccup-_ Shizune," Drowsy orbs rimmed by dark purple bags shuffled lazily to the brunet woman trying to focus on her worried mien; her mind was reeling in a blissful bittersweet oblivion like every night, impotent to ward off her demons of the past otherwise. "Never as in -hicc- _never_ ever—!" Tsunade slurred shamefully, her lips tapping against the rim of her glass, angling it so that the alcohol would simmer down her throat, drinking and letting her bust press to the edge of the round table.

''—trust that moronic creatures _-hicc-_ called _men_..." Her oolong tea orbs were welling in tears as they streamed along her flushed cheeks refreshing the dried marks with fresh droplets continuously spilling from under her eyelids, while trying to pour sake into her glass steadily, failing miserably.

"they are prone to _-sob-_ disappoint you _-hicc-_ before breaking your heart—" she gulped as chocking tears amassed on the back of her throat like a painful knot of every compelled pain, clumsily bringing the bottle to the rim of her glass spilling half of the liquid onto the table. "—at some point in time _-sob-"_

"Tsunade-sama," Shizune attempted tentatively again, gently not wanting to peeve her mentally unstable shishou. "you did everything you could for him,"

Tears honey orbs peeled from the glass leisurely to the woman and a serious hurt look overshadowed the inebriated in despair; Tsunade Senju always drunk to forget, to find a companion of grief, to narcotize that immeasurable pains if every droplet of liquor would feel the void in her hear with something —it was her gate to escape from the prison of eternal loneliness.

The female Sannin has always been a sucker in life; and at some point in time she thought she was cursed, because every man she grew to are about and have an important role in her life ended up dead and she was always there to witness it; inept to do anything remotely helpful, always being the one left behind to pluck those tears and cultivate them into the immeasurable _garden of forgotten tears_ as they bloomed into that tremendous pain.

"you couldn't have stopped Jirayia-sama from fulfilling his _destiny_ Tsunade-sama, _no one_ could, but you did part ways with your most sincere words and this is where it counted the most," she tried to pry Tsunade`s glass off and it slipped from her manicured nails —red as poppies and tears of blood of her nail polish— grazing the glass it a subtle sound.

"you swore to always support him and have faith in him. I am sure that whenever he is, Jirayia-sama is immeasurably grateful to you, protecting and supporting you. He died as a veritable hero —the hero that he always dreamed to be— protecting his dream and the _Village_ -"

"—and for _-hichhup-_ what good?!" Tsunade tried to reason bridling in huddled frustration and chafe, but instead she slurred every word as more tears burned under her eyelids.

"What good it did to him to _-sob-_ die like a fool in _-hiccc-_ that godforsaken place, huh?! Why does it matter since he _-hiccup-_ turned to _-sob-_ ashes and didn't even left a _-sob-_ tomb behind for me to _-sob-_ mourn for him?"

She placed her cheek on the table mumbling weakly, tears smearing her flushed cheeks. "He didn't even _-sob-_ ask me for help... that arrogant prideful bastard..." He always wanted to impress her, to never fall behind Orochimaru and her and in the end, they both died.

"Tsunade-sama—"

"—and you know what Shizune?" she interrupted with a lament trembling along her stammering lisp. "now I have lost them _both_. I am the _-hic-_ only one remaining of the _-sob-_ legendary Sannin... Orochimaru has died pitifully killed by a clique of _-hic-_ rogue ninja and now that idiot Jirayia has died in a similar way _-sob-_ killed nonetheless by one of his former _students_."

She chortled bitterly humorlessly as she thought of the irony of the next generation surpassing their masters and then turning against them. Her mind floated to her own pupil thinking of her with melancholy and love. "I wonder what my _-hic-_ favorite blossom does now? Is she good? Is she happy? Is she… _lonely_?"

"You mean Sakura-chan?" Shizune smiled wholeheartedly glad that Tsunade's thoughts were not drifting to the ones she lost anymore as the Priestess was a ray of hope in the Sannin`s life; Tsunade`s earnest care for the young girl spanned to the ones of a veritable mother.

"She is diligent and adroit in completing her task as a Priestess of course. She must be a young _woman_ by now." Shizune smirked knowingly hinting something to Tsunade that has been making her anxious and rather culpable.

"She must be, really—" She barely kept herself from slumber, ordering vivaciously another round of sake —surprisingly coherent this time.

"—I wonder if she misses me, that coltish little girl." She was reminded of when they spent time after training getting to know how pure she was, how luminous her temper was and her smile.

Shizune felt pity for the girl's fate, but there is so little that someone as insignificant as her could do for Sakura. "You know _-hic-_ Shizune, that I grew to love _-hic-_ " This time, Tsunade spilled half of the sake as she cantered the bottle to pour into her glass but she didn't care. "that girl like _my_ own _-hic-_ girl and I feel like a monster for having her to become a _-hic-_ trapped nightingale in a golden cage."

Tsunade knew —everyone knew about Sakura`s fate and it didn't mean that she acquiesced to it, accepting it gleefully like a curse that they coated into a _blessing_ , no. She _did_ try to get close to Sakura in that motherly way pampering her and caring for her as much as she could, but she alone couldn't replace that void in the girl`s heart.

Having to entirely _erase_ her past existence and turn her into the perfect caretaker of the Chakra Fruit implied _sacrifice_ and the Leaf Village has designated her for the role because she was a foreigner; someone with no affiliation to the Leaf and thus someone who wouldn't become _problematic_ in the future.

And that was downright outrageous! But Tsunade alone didn't have a word to say in this, simply fulfilling her duty as a mentor to the Priestess —she, being a former Priestess herself, one who couldn't be tamed and thus 'retired' from the job when she realized it that it pinned her wings.

Olive orbs sunk downwards when the words of sheer truth echoed between them and mingled with the pungent stench of strong alcohol, dejected and churning with the feeling of culpability.

"Unfortunately, this is the fate of every Priestess –to safeguard the Chakra Fruit and protect it from the enemy."

That was the rotation system of Priestesses for decades, because no potential enemy would ever suspect that the Fruit of Chakra –the gist of the entire ninja power— was secluded into a subterrane under a solitary Shrine, a sacrosanct place safeguarded by a delicate Priestess whose seemingly only purpose was to pray for the souls of the Villagers residing at the bottom of the high snowy peaks and preserve her chastity.

And so far, they succeeded in keeping it occult, except for a handful of people who suspected that the treasure was being hidden where they last expected it but so far, at least half of them were dead.

"—bullshit Shizune!" she bristled slamming the empty bottle on the table cracking it lightly. "we are monsters for _-hiccup-_ condemning that little angel to a life of loneliness," viciously emptying the content of her glass, Tsunade resentfully slammed it onto the table making the wood crack under the force of the impact; Shizune nipped on her lower lip, charcoal orbs glancing downwards in shame and pity.

She felt equally guilty as Tsunade for Sakura`s fate.

"without friends," her boisterous voice turned into a soft weeping lament, honey tea orbs churning in pain —another one of the ones that Tsunade loved was in pain and she could not shoulder so much pain anymore.

"not knowing of her ancestry, her home, her family… without knowing the wonders of having a man in his strong arms… protecting her," Memories of her former lover`s handsome image overflow the front of her mind making her heart leap into her throat like the buds of her first romance; the void in her chest tucked and echoed with a sinister gust of wind blowing over the emptiness of his voice still resonating into the caverns of her empty heart.

"caring for her," There were hot tears welling into her glazed orbs now seeping in torpid strokes along her cheeks and Tsunade did not even brush them off with the back of her palm; she didn't need to appear valiant and unswerving in front of her right-hand assistant Shizune and a throng of drunken strangers littering the bar. "loving her."

No words were capable to depict how incredibly _sorry_ Tsunade felt for having the knowledge that theoretically Sakura would never be able to fall in _love_ with anyone; that she will not know the sublime beauty of feeling the frisky butterflies flittering into her belly and her heart to miss a beat.

What it was like to make love to someone passionately, lovingly, gently, intently and poetically… her own heart twitched agonizingly whenever she thought about Sakura`s fate actually coquetting with the idea to march into the Leaf herself and… _do_ something to save that girl!

 _But what?_

Shizune lowered her gaze remaining a silent witness to Tsunade`s grief; she too know that her Shishou was right. "This is the destiny of every Priestess Tsunade-sama, you must know better than anyone else that she—"

"—tsk," she fumed whacking the top of the table with a tempestuous fist, an adjacent crack seeping like a vine carved into the wood.

"we should have never condemned such a pristine girl to a lifetime of solitary existence and make her a spy; a double agent of the Leaf whose real purpose was to guard that cursed power so as not to fall in wrong hands Shizune!"

But such a tempting treasure could only be safe under the surveillance of a woman whose thoughts were too pure to be corrupted by the temptation of such power, but at the same time the price for it was nefarious –to have a young girl in the cusp of womanhood deprive of what a real life compelled, with all the abundance of feelings that she probably would never have the pleasure to feel, to only live as a hermit under the tutelage of loneliness and holiness.

Tsunade's chest panged terribly when she realized that _she_ was one of the handful of cruel monsters who damned Sakura to such an existence, half-heartedly acquiescing with it, and albeit she tried to give her a glimpse into what a motherly love for a daughter should feel, she knew she could never replenish that void in her heart; because Sakura was a bud without roots, a flower without leaves, a soul with no ancestry, a child of the _sky_.

Like a fragment of a star which lost its light and the realm of sky. Shizune on the opposite side of the table felt equally broken by what Tsunade was lamenting for, she too perceiving the feeling of ineptitude to help the girl in anyway –because no matter how many times has Tsunade tried to strategize, she couldn't find the best way to help Sakura _escape_ from the Shrine. "I`m sorry Tsunade-sama. I truly wish that we could actually do something to help—"

"—It`s getting late _—hicc—_ Shizune," Tsunade blabbered as her well-endowed bust pressed down the edge of the table spilling from the folds of her blouse, her ivory skin of her chest, neck and cheeks blushing with a burning rose tinge as drunkenness drowned her reeling mind and orbs, hiccupping and sobbing as tears burned her injected orbs, clumsily teetering on her legs while standing up abruptly, her reeling mind briefly making her lose balance. "We should go now."

"Wait— Tsunade-sama , how are we going to pay for the drinks, the food and the room since we," Shizune leaned onwards so as the already circumspect bartender would notice that they didn't intend to honor their payment for the accommodation or the food and engage into a scandal. "have spent all the money in the previous town on the casino—"

"—Hey you," Inconspicuously, the middle-aged bartender and the owner of the inn himself proudly galloped to the two fugitive woman who intended not to pay their debts, slamming his calloused palm down the table preventing Tsunade`s swaying stroll and it was pure shinobi reflexes that she halt her advances onwards and not bumped her busty chest into his, looking at him from behind thick heavy lids heavily inebriated and cockily composed.

"don't you dare sneak outside without paying for the room, the meals and the alcohol that you so generously consumed, _Miss_." He mocked with a trifling tone seeing as the two were barely innocent ladies, making Tsunade scowl deeply.

"I _-hiccup-_ refuse to pay for the cheap alcohol and poor room service, you dirty greedy pig!" She outstretched her index finger pointing to the now frowning man, her chapped voice clipping pretty cohesively as she bristled to him, a tinge of lament cupping her poignant calloused tone, albeit she was barely focusing on his face rather than his surroundings.

" _Uh—oh_ …" The throat of Shizune constricted painfully and she gulped to alleviate nub huddled into the back of her throat that nearly made her hyperventilate, adrenaline huddling into her chest at the imminence of a jive.

The pink pig Tonton teetered into her clumsy embrace, rapidly sneaking under her traditional plain yukata, both sensing he imminent sparkles of an upcoming scandal; the other customers were now diverting their attention towards the woman and the owner of the inn, amused by the buds of a fulminant upcoming scandal.

"Tsunade-sama, we shall refrain from any imbroglio here too—"

Her kindhearted advice went to deaf slightly frustrated ears since Tsunade was in the perfect mood to smack someone and vent out her pent up rage, brushing off Shizune`s hand off her shoulder as it tapped lightly to calm the Sannin down; with no success of course. "—let go Shizune! I don`t intend to pay this Neanderthal anything! But I will –hiccup—gladly throw some _fists_ at him as much as his bucked could carry!"

"Then it is such a pity for such a delightful young lady," he gave a lecherous perusal thing that she was in her twenties by the fallacious adolescent in the cusp of womanhood look. "but I will have to beat you up first then call the police—"

He was interrupted by two animals popping between them into spirals of fine white smoke. "Aish!" the owner shrieked like a scared maid leaping on the table and tucking on his bartender apron, comically as the scene turned ridiculously amusing. "what the fuck is this?!"

"Tsunade-sama!" Katsuyu blubbed shakily exhausted from the numerous attempts to finally find the tempestuous Sannin, crouching in front of her drowsy orbs, irises soaked in honey tea sliding to the two miniature Summoning.

"We finally found you! I`ve been looking for you everywhere!" and since Tsunade was legendary for drowning into immeasurable debts due to her malicious habit of gambling and losing fortunes she was always on the road and barely anyone was able to track her and demand their money back.

An unreadable look creased Tsunade`s mien, confusion coddling into her plush chest as her gut alerted her about the urgency in the Slug`s chime. Truthfully, the blonde Sannin was only surprised by _Jirayia`s_ toad friend _Fukasaku_ `s unforeseen presence beside her own summoning, Katsuyu-san.

 _What were they doing there_ _together_ _?_

"Katsuyu-san?" She babbled with a tinge of surprise in her voice as both her eyebrows quirked up in confusion. "You here? And why would you need _me_ for?"

"Tsunade sama I have an urgent message to deliver, this crucial!" The light lyric soprano tune of the poised faithful animal confounded Tsunade, but the Sannin listened with a prim look in her intoxicated orbs at what she had to confess; in patience that she normally didn't possess. "I barely preserved a portion of chakra to keep the summoning!"

"An important message for _me_?" Heavy lids fluttered as they heaved with the effects of the poisonous alcohol threatening to shroud her orbs as Tsunade glimmered once, widened ever so lightly trimmed by confusion as she demanded sternly. "What about?"

"It's about the Priestess of Tea!" Her thin lips gnashed together in sync to the light gasp dropped by Shizune who loomed behind the Legendary Sannin at the urgency of the message, her shoulders wilting ever so lightly as her chin dipped to the cracking wooden floor shrouding her orbs momentarily; her atmosphere suddenly grew prim and forbidding vying the alcohol simmering through her bloodstream, listening the frenetic sputter of Katsuyu.

"Sakura-chan is in imminent danger Tsunade-sama! She has summoned me here with the little chakra that she has managed to summon in the peak of her _fight_ and instructed me to deliver this message to _you_ immediately!"

"What?!" Her blusterous tune trimmed in a tempest upon hearing the brief of Katsuyu`s story, an alertness amassing into the hollow of her chest and syphoning through her now reeling mind, demanding to be listened.

The civilian spectators that filled the tables of the night bar halting their light chimes and chit-chatters recoiled shrieking back in panic, an instinctual backpedal from the furor heaved by this obviously _strong_ blonde woman. "What happened to my precious blossom Katsuyu-san?! Where is she _now_?"

"I don't have all the details Tsunade-sama but Sakura-chan has summoned me in a moment of despair and only instructed me to find you as soon as possible and alert you about her present… condition."

"Speak!" The revolt in her orbs seeped at the tip of her tongue where disgust and dread has pinched her like a bittersweet beverage, already sensing a pang of despair thundering into the back of her throat, imagining the nefarious scenarios about Sakura being _abducted_ by the enemies. "Speak now _damn it_ what happened to _my_ precious flower?!"

Oh dear _Kami-sama_ — if something terrible happened to her beloved protégée… Tsunade would never forgive herself for her negligence.

"You must know first that the Leaf Village has been attacked and unfortunately enough... The Third has been assassinated along with his army and the rest of the shinobi Leaf are now imprisoned."

Shizune and Tsunade gasped again in pure shock. "And not only that but they now rule the Leaf Village, nearly destroyed it entirely and the leader of those rogue bastards has seemingly captured the Priestess of Tea and keeps her as his prisoner!"

"No!" Shizune covered her mouth in pure horror, hysterically glancing at Tsunade`s own bristling mien with apprehension.

"No, no _no_ this cannot be possible, no way! Sarutobi-sensei is d-dead?! Oh my Kami—" A sob traveled past her lips as her orbs moistened with pricking simmering tears. "And Sakura-chan is in the hands of the enemy?! This is a disaster! We are all in danger if—" Thinking about the Chakra Fruit and the secrecy shrouding it, Shizune instantly censored herself "—Tsunade-sama we have to—"

Sternly Tsunade cut her off her voice thundering into the now painfully silent bar. "who are those people?!" she demanded urgently, her voice seeping with venom. "Who is that bastard who detained the Priestess and ravaged the Village?!" Whoever that criminal was will _not_ escape Tsunade`s wrath; she already vowed it to take revenge in behalf of the Leaf for those outrageous transgressions.

The answer made her orbs fly wide in shock and every single curse and oath she made to rescue the Village died in her throat, remaining suspended onto her parted lips. "I am not sure myself but there is a name that is whispered by everyone's lips,"

The name of the culprit stunned both Shizune and Tsunade so much that the Legendary Sannin actually dropped onto one of the stools with a hand clutching on the edge of the table and her honey orbs reeling in horror; glancing to her well-endowed chest with so much tempest creasing her beautiful visage.

"It was Uchiha Sasuke —the last Uchiha survivor! He detained the Priestess and killed the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen-sama!"

"No..." Tsunade felt her heart sink painfully into her stomach, as her innards convulsed and simmered painfully. The last Uchiha survivor of the terrible massacre… Uchiha Itachi`s younger brother was _back_ into the Leaf _crushing_ it, murdering the Hokage and… getting so close to the Chakra Fruit.. that was utterly disastrous.

The karma started to manifest once again… the _curse_ has been unleashed

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* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ Sorry for this late update guys, I have been busy like… _extremely_ busy. I will be graduating soon and thus I had plenty of projects to work on and my Thesis.

An idea struck me for a long time in regards to the massacre of the Uchiha clan and thus I want to develop here into this story. How come that in the night of the massacre, _everyone_ , every single Uchiha was conveniently in the Uchiha District? Absolutely no one was out on a mission or… holiday? I always found that questionable, suspicious and pretty much like a plot hole. So I want to add some more mystery into this story by incorporating it into the plot. Hope that you guys will find it interesting as well.

I will make this note short because it is late but I want to post this chapter for you guys to read it. Thank you for your reviews and your opinions about this story, it means a lot to me! I see that there is a lot of confusion, questions arising because of the plot`s development and the recent events but they will be cleared into the next chapters –this includes the mystery around the Chakra Fruit too. I will try to stick to the original manga because I like the symbolism behind, of course, in my own interpretation. I have to warn the readers who are not familiar with my writing style that my romance stories are tempestuous, unpredictable and pretty dramatic so expect a carousel of emotions and many drama sprinkled into this story. I know that Sasuke is confused about his feelings but I don`t want this story to be puerile and childish and have him admit his love for her immediately; I want more development, more in-depth, more feelings more… everything. I hope that made sense…

Sorry for the grammar, spelling, English mistakes. I know they are extremely annoying. I truly _truly_ wish that I was a better author and my English was not as lacking and flawed as it is. Warui ne.

Thank you for your reviews, opinions and good wishes: **sasusaku dream, anime1angel, helloitsmarissa, The-Dead-Guest, Riela, R3ader, Guest, Maram, Guest, Yami no Emi, Innocence and Instinct, sasusakulovesarada, ssml, Guest, Guest, Angelic Blossom, Guest, Guest, Guest, Maso Neko-chan, Guest, Guest, Guest, Guest, Guest**. You guys are amazing and your words encouraging!

The next update will not take long –hopefully– because I already have most of the chapter written in advance.

Thank you everyone for reading, following and reviewing this story!

Till next time…


	17. Paradise lost

::CHAPTER XVII – PARADISE LOST::

* * *

"Sa-Su... ke..." A weak wrap of fidgeting digits around his strong hand, another gliding about his bicep impure instinct to save herself, her words chocked as she murmured orbs flittering and her mind dizzy reeling with fog. "p-pleas..."

"—stay still." Something about his seemingly calloused tone vanquished her fear and... for a moment she relaxed; confused she was by how his Sharingan spiraled hypnotically.

"Hn." In one fluid motion the constraint pressing onto her throat dispersed, and in one smooth motion he snatched the necklace from around her neck.

"Argh—" she immediately coiled her hands around the red mark of his digits smearing her pristine pearl skin shimming and backpedalling two twiddling steps backwards from him, crouching and gasping for air; her eyelashes were already moist with droplets of tears. "Wha...t... are you... doing—"

"—this necklace," he spoke flippantly holding the precious chain before his eyes with two fingers like raising something disgusting... or dangerous to the touch. "is a _gift_ from your Master, huh?"

Sasuke mocked with such an insulting roll of the words on his tongue, acrimony and disgust visibly seeping from his lips evoking Tsunade Senju in reference to the higher-ups.

Nodding she glanced at the Uchiha momentarily confused; she thought he had another spur of dementia, but he looked coherent.

Rumpling his nose at the necklace his Sharingan was intense, studying. Their stares woven for a brief before her head curtsied in confirmation.

"A gift my ass..." he spat his voice clipping not at her but those fools. "...this is a _chakra restraining_ device Sakura."

Chartreuse orbs reeling in confusion glanced skywards to Uchiha`s incessant hues, now flickering to her in such a shivery glance. "Luckily for you it interfered with _my_ jutsu on you albeit this one is far stronger than Orochimaru`s creation... the principle is the same though, minus the part with sensing each other`s... _hearts_."

"A c-chakra... restrainer... around my..." She looked confused, helpless, innocent like a cornered lamb while her cotton fingertips now brushed her barren neck. "why?"

Now Uchiha was capable to depict it clearly. Paddling onwards to her again unfailingly as she backtracked like he was a wraith, a phantom of a crooked spirit she teetered at his cyclone in his orbs; he was mapping her and a hand encompassed her waist stopping her and giving her zero leeway. "I can see it _now_... clearly." He seemed to purr those words with contempt at his discovering, pride and manly ego swelling into his chest.

"W-What... is that you see about me?" she nipped on her lower lips and he couldn't believe how cute and childish she looked, albeit... beautiful in the radiance of the lit bolts of lightning grazing the thunder clouds.

Tilting his head on the side, Sasuke`s rumpled ebony tendrils strewn on his eyes before a crooked smirk graced his lips. "you _real_ identity." Shock jarred through her heart at his response, lips parted in pure astonishment and she wobbled on her orbs gulping once to soothe the lump in her throat, her skin prickling with cold shivers.

Sasuke patiently followed how shock hit home, the Priestess` mind trying to wrap about the concept as seeing his own austere look reflected in those emerald orbs hypnotically which did _not_ lie.

He never lied. A muscular arm was girding her midsection and she was so frail in his arms, like a snowflake, a shower rain of furs whirling and grazing the sky, she weighed absolutely nothing for him; his hold was casual but strong almost... protective.

"m-my... r...real... identity...? B-but... I cannot... remember I... don't have any memories about..." Sakura blubbed as her glazed orbs welled in unshed tears; adrenaline took over and the desperation in her to find out the truth was now clear.

And this is what Sasuke wanted... for her to wake up to reality already and judge for herself instead of being manipulated. "...and what about the necklace?" Her pleading look, broken and empty lacerated Sasuke`s chest in half, orbs sloppy not trying to shield form searching answers to this man.

Not even blinking once he bespoke. "Why do you think that you don't have any figments from your childhood? Or your home?"

She downcast her orbs blushing when she realized how _close_ her chest pressed against his own, his hand muscular and warm now securely shrouding her waist in a tight embrace.

Helplessly like a school girl twiddling in front of her first crush, with her opaline cheeks powdered by a virgin rose hue, Sakura shook her head in complete oblivion as Sasuke exhaled softly, emphasizing his point, going further into details.

"Because _they_ locked all the memories form you conveniently of course." Soundless, her petals gasped in horror when realization crushed her dreams in a nanosecond. "and this trinket," he held the jewelry in front of her, the chain dangling from between his lean digits hypnotically. "was infusing enough chakra into your mind so that memories will never return to you; like a continuous _Genjutsu_ only more cruel because you weren't aware of it." Similar to Shisui`s Kotoamatsukami, he added in his mind.

Danzo created the lock for Sakura, it was just painfully obvious, thus that snake was involved into the mystery of the Chakra Fruit. "W-What?" The truth rendered to her despair as she shook her head zealously trying to make the pain recede, but peas of tears wouldn't listen to any ration.

Sakura felt betrayed just like _he_ once felt and now she got a bitter taste of how remorse, rancor and vengeance felt. "n...no this cannot be... possible my—" she sobbed once already a lone tear glissading along the curve of her cheek tapping against the corner of her lips. "—Tsunade-shishou would never do that to me... or Kakashi-sensei!"

Sasuke inwardly cringed at the names mentioned of those traitors. "They do not lie to me they... love me, and care for me!" A crooked derisive smirk bloomed on his lips albeit the situation was not the one to laugh about.

But her naivety was astounding even though she couldn't wade into that jive trying to make a sense out of his words. Momentarily Sasuke mentally indulged into a moment of displaying affection, having the impulse to coddle her, caress those tears away from her face, to... _kiss_ her on the lips chastely without sexual meaning, something to quench the discord in her mind but... she took the first baby step in leaning forward, two fiddling hands tapping onto his forearms trembling like a daffodil meandering on the wind, a sun flower trying to reach for the rays of her sun.

Finally his lips moved, murmuring somehow soothingly, his chocolate tone now lenitive and pampering. "I have told you before that they have _not_ been entirely sincere to you Sakura. You were only a pawn, a sacrificial piece on a broader chess board. They only needed a perfect _marionette_ and you my dear have been their perfect to fill that role."

No family to back her up, no ancestry to complete her history, no family to care for her, no friend to come to rescue... no one to think of her it was like she was not even existing; for anyone.

Sasuke knew how that felt and now through the moonlit jutsu encircling her bony wrists, her sentiments seeped slowly cursively unfailingly as he tried to do something to placate the plight in her heart because it hurt him too for a reason that vexed him.

"no...n...o... it cannot be..." she wilted into his arms when he literarily did something even more expressive and intimate than making love to her; he shown her a piece of his own heart bespeaking that she can _rely_ on him.

The nose that was now sobbing lightly between his pectorals careened into his arms, while his hand didn't falter from around her waistline, his unoccupied hand gingerly cupped her cheek making her look up to him —those hurt, pained orbs alone and miserable drown in tears jarred in a thunder inside his chest— and skimmed along her cheek, tenderly, affectionately like a mother coddling the face of her new born baby.

"You have to open up your eyes Sakura," melodious and magical his distinctive voice was, resounding into her heart, into the stillness of the room connecting her loneliness to him, feelings overflowing.

"to this reality... you have been living a _lie_." his fingertips combed through her satin hair sinking into the glossy veil like going through cotton, her skin creamy to the touch when he traced his fingertips along her temples and... curled two of his lean digits, _poking_ her forehead with a light dabbing, not enough to hurt but enough to tingle her skin and put out of pressure due to his touch lingering.

Like attempting to tell her to _think_ wiser and bring the topics that mattered to the front of her mind; but the gesture was far more intimate meaningful and affectionate that that; she wouldn't know because Sasuke never told her.

It mattered to him and she felt the heaviness the importance of the gesture into her own thudding heart. "No..." she protested with a frail wail. "no..."

"Yes," he countered albeit the stern attitude didn't entirely vanish from his tenue. "now memories should slowly return to you." _or so I hope_ , because if they would bounce to her and whack her violently she will most likely rumple under the pressure of her own identity.

Sasuke himself found it bizarre that Sakura shared the same chakra imprint to the Chakra Fruit but... he already decided that this Priestes— no, this _girl_ was special, unique.

Maybe this is the reason why she appealed to him so much, he was so drown into her that he hasn't realized that he was still having his fingertips dabbing her forehead.

And those emerald orbs, doe-like and innocent, helpless and vulnerable gleaming like million diamonds pulverizing into dust shining under the sun pierced trough his chest; something in his chest tucked painfully then twiddled —sentiments that he hasn't felt in ages.

"Hn. _Amaterasu_!" Sniffing once as her orbs burned with tears, she followed as Sasuke removed his fingertips from her skin —looking almost shocked by his own action— following how he held her necklace, the beautiful pendant bedecked with small encrusted diamonds and, focusing the power in his left eye as purple flames burst and burned that necklace until noting remained of it.

The only sound was the scorching flames cremating her chest; Sakura`s heart pained by at the same time... a new light like an open door spilling rays form the other side has cleared in her mind. "Oh"

She placed her hands between her temples as a dark veil swathing her mind has been lifted from her mind. "Ah!" She shirked shimmying and teetering while stumbling one step backwards.

"Oi," Immediately, instinctively his arm around her waist steadied her back on her weak legs; he was supporting all her flimsy weight with his muscular arm alone.

"you ok?" now that the abominable bauble cremated, the seal should be weaker than ever and burst any minute from now.

Frowning lightly the Sharingan showing things to him with more insight than ever before, syphoning a strange power —like a new chakra— through his vessels, the vision in her mind was clear.

And her orbs let him in entirely with no restrain. "Sakura..." he murmured softly to the girl, actually feeling sympathy for her. The Priestess looked terrible like that; her puffy orbs were rimmed by cruel tears seeping along her orbs, droplets large and moonlit staining his knuckles as they cupped her cheeks.

Her hands, small, cold and fiddling, wrapped around his wrists, feeble and twiddling with no strength coursing through her fingertips; they only brushed over his skin helplessly searching for comfort.

There was so much emptiness in the orbs like all the ground has swept from under her feet leaving her struggle in imponderability, lonely in that vacuum.

 _Now_ he successfully crushed her life, hauled form her heart the very purpose in life, demoted form her role as a Priestess by sleeping with her, crushed whatever hope of love she had from her mentors, shown her that she led a deceptive illusion and not a real _life_ and even defeated her in battle showing it to her that she wasn't a kunoichi capable to face _him_.

Completely making her dependable to him Sasuke involuntarily turned her into his prisoner, a real prisoner who had no freedom and no life on its own but... the taste of his success made his throat burn with a pungent astringent taste, seeping into his mouth and lips and it got worse by the minute.

"My head... it hurts..." Blinking once her strained voice, strangled by tears and knots in her throat his focus returned back to her.

Saying nothing; he wasn't a sadist to the bones. Sasuke Uchiha was _not_ someone who had a penchant for torture, he did not like to toy with people, to use them as object, to do them harm, to hurt them.

If he needed to kill someone it was always with a purpose, but otherwise he had less than no human contact. And that was a sublime parallel to how insanely _strong_ he was. "I know." He simply said not because he adhered her physical pain but because he has been in her place before. No only him, Naruto and his comrades as well.

At some point in time, they all came to the conclusion that they lived trapped into a perverse illusion all orchestrated by the hands of the ones who had the _power_ , the ones who led, who made decision makers, the ones who had the strings between their gloved white gloved fingertips; the ones who never personally stained their hands with blood.

But karma always enclosed that cycle making everyone pay for the harm they did. "What... will I be doing... now that..."

She palmed her eyes brushing off the tears to no avail; the kept on leaking albeit she visibly tried to be strong and compose herself.

Sakura found herself so lost albeit she was stronger than he anticipated, she was not a crybaby and actually this Priestess had character and dignity; traits that Sasuke appreciated in a person. "...I don't know... I am so confused."

She admitted vehemently; it would be weird if she wasn't. "You are going to do," he loosened his hold on her but not letting go entirely, still not fully trusting it that her wobbling knees won't give away under the pressure of the truth.

"what you have always been doing until now." The simplicity in Uchiha`s words entombed everything; like he has illuminated the way, she looked at him _leering_ into his eyes with optimism and aspiration.

The same heavenly tableau with kittenish children cantering in pure blithe in the meadows of Paradise, exuding peace, so much light, hope and teardrops of joy of that marvelous inner _peace_ brimmed through her spine at his words.

"Do... what I have don... b-but... how can I do this now... when you..." she averted her orbs saddened again, with a thundercloud looming over her orbs.

A virgin rutilant blushed smeared her ivory cheeks, palms shyly resting now atop his bare pectorals. "when I... am not needed... anymore..."

He actually snorted through his nostrils at her innocence; a short humorless puff emerging through his tittering lips, a fleeting curl on the corners of his firm mouth but a chortle nonetheless.

Confused by his burst, Sakura glanced skyward again leering to him, her fingertips unconsciously betraying her antsy when the pressed onto his tauten muscles; the gesture sent a short tingle along his limbs, his abdomen tightening once almost painfully; exciting and arousing Sasuke.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" he wasn't mocking her, more like berating her for that jive. "Of course that you _are_ needed here but... not in the way _they_ want you to be."

"In what way then... I don't understand..." she shook her head frenetically now a myriad of figments rushing to the front of her mind; he did not blame her for that moment of vulnerability and demoralization.

"I don't know anymore... what I should..." Shyly Sakura referred to the Chakra Fruit then blushing again thinking about the two of them; she didn't realize that she was rubbing her palms along his chest gingerly and how _badly_ that simple gesture affected him.

Those hands... those appendages were so frail, so crystal like in finesse and fragility like they could break if unhandled improperly with cautious and care, they gleamed like fine pearls in the ocean into the dim light of the chamber, scampering along his skin shimmying and oh so shy, so demure and helpless, vulnerable, exposed... brittleness was such a miraculous thing.

Sakura`s delicacy, this fragility in her shaky touch, her still intact pureness... it was absolutely instinctual his hold of those hands, still not removing the contact form his skin entirely, Sasuke`s bigger hands, strong yet delicate, fine and warm, perched to her knuckles draping them like pushing confidence and reassurance back to her and cushioned them with his own, digits woven with her own giving it a light squeeze.

"You have a mysterious _connection_ to the Chakra Fruit," she absorbed every of his words interlacing her digits to his own; never his words were so gentle and soft as they were now.

"one that even transcends the insight of _my_ eyes but... I can see it clearly that you are a key point in _protecting_ this blissful yet cursed power that resides within the walls of this place. You are _still_ the Priestess, the caretaker of this Temple and thus it is _your_ responsibility to safeguard it and not only,"

Sasuke briefly frowned lightly while following the hollow pulse of her chakra, her internal power started to surge and seep slowly continuously into her now empty vessels, wondering how much would he be able to preserve his Jutsu.

Instantaneously Sasuke relaxed —why was he fidgety and preoccupied about the prospect— when he realized that Orochimaru was not stupid, no not in the bit: the Jutsu was as strong as the _caster_ was, and thus as long as his power was defying Sakura`s then it was all good but... Sakura was a stranger, a foreigner with occult identity and it became pretty obvious that she was _not_ pertaining to a weak ancestry.

She was the gemstone of this place, the jewel of Konoha and definitely not that monstrous power of the damned Chakra Fruit -—something that became obvious to Sasuke that should not be allowed to exist. "you must _control_ it diligently and make sure that it will never get out of control."

"B-But... this is why... this is _your_ role!" She argued with a voice blinded by tears but he was relieved that they started to be subdued; all courtesy to _his_ touch on her hands, and she squeezed them back resting still atop his left pectoral; his heart`s thumps rhythmical and swiftly pounding relaxed her.

She felt... his and that new sensation was so mirthful like a blessing that she wanted to cry because of that belonging, the connectedness.

"You... you are... an Uchiha!" she sputtered like it was obvious to own that place. "Y-You said... for yourself that... the two places are connected that... the Chakra Fruit and the history of the shinobi was scribbled on the... the Uchiha Tablet!"

"I did yes but," this is where Sasuke smirked in triumph at how stupefied his new remark was. "I never said that _you_ are never going to help." he accepted her help as in acknowledging her power?

"What?" Sakura stammered teetering in trepidation at the power of his words. "You... accept _my_... b-but..." desperately, an answer became mandatory for her understanding, searching for a cloud of lie in his orbs finding none; he was completely serious.

Nodding once to her, Sasuke proceeded on the same soothing but vehement manner. "I told you before haven't I? That I am not here to snatch the power for me... that I am here to _protect_ the Village and this power so as not to fall in the hands of the enemies. I am not a liar Sakura. From all the things that I am... a liar I am _not_."

"Y-You did... but..." She lowered her gaze from his and actually wanted to slid her hands half-heartedly from his own but he —shockingly— tucked on them twice and strengthened his hold on her; fidgeting under his gaze she gulped once moistening her luscious lips, suddenly the air turning form humid to tropical hot, searing.

"…you still..." she looked at their intertwined hands noticing briefly how good they looked in his hold, blushing vividly she said. "...why don't you _..._ set me _free_ then...?"

Daring to steal a furtive peep to Sasuke, her emerald orbs immediately eschew from _that_ intense look in his dark pools; his face told her everything. "Because it will backfire to me." Whatever he meant by it she didn't know. "You will spill everything to your allies... allies that have evaded us."

She looked away now ashamed for the first time; she wasn't exactly a prisoner only she couldn't run from him but somehow... she didn't feel entombed in spirit by him. It actually felt like she was protected by him; he was everywhere around her, inside her, in her mind, in her chakra.

"Hm?" He mocked her now, head cocked in total playfulness. "I know that you have sought for help Sakura."

She whipped her head to face him again, orbs churning with apprehension and astonishment. "W-What? You... how?"

"Hn. You think that I`m _that_ stupid?" He clipped somehow affronted but instead, he was terribly amused by her reaction; this man and a double personality and the skill to flip them of an actor.

"Right after you replaced yourself with your Shadow Clone of course. You faltered a moment then summoned all your remaining chakra to summon your Slug and instructed her to deliver the message to... _Tsunade-sama_." Letting go of her now tottering hands, her rattletrap heart brimming of confusion.

Her orbs shone expressively with all those huddled feelings; she couldn't have been anymore amusing. Wetting her lips she blubbed weakly, a whisper like voice teetering with incertitude and disbelief. "...h-how... did you know? I was... you weren`t around then..."

"You were… really? Sakura... you might have gained enough time to evade me but," this is when he inched onwards until his lips tapped against her ear shell, her skin wilting as he palmed his shoulders startled, heart leaping in her throat; Sakura held in her breath listening to his every enunciated whisper. "you cannot _outspeed_ me, love."

Orbs floating in aghast, tempestuous fear jolt along her spine when she realized the implication of Sasuke`s confession, sputtering. "Y-You mean... that you..."

"Naturally," Moist lips dabbed against the soft flesh behind her earlobe, smirking lightly when she shimmied visibly as jolts jarred through her spine at the contact; the atmosphere thickened and grew in intensity immediately, Sakura was _that_ sensitive to his touch.

"I easily caught up with a chakra depleted white bird whose speed has always been _subpar_ to mine. I was right... _behind_ you Sakura. All. the. time."

His words were cruel, his truth implacable as his devious smirk. "Watching... following my _prey_... amused. I had a moment of fear that you are going to break but... you are far more ingenious than I thought. Then it was easy for _my_ summoning, my _snake_ s summoning to follow yours... up. to. your. beloved. s _hishou_."

"N-No! No it can't—"

"—You led the way to your allies Sakura... I think that this gives me quite the advantage isn't it? So do not even _attempt_ to double-cross me Sakura because I am already one step ahead of you." hands flung towards him whacked his chest with two weak blows as she shook her head hysterically, tears garnered into her emerald orbs while as she sobbed.

"No...No! You cannot be real... this cannot... you _lied_ to me again you... you—"

"—Sakura st—"

"—you lied to me you lied to me I... _hate_ you... I—!" the response of a leather whiplash splashing against skin resonated similar to her right hand connecting to his cheek; her breath hitched midway her lungs as she chocked on air horror jarring inside her chest when his head hurled over his right shoulder by the force of her slap.

His hand that encompassed her waist slid along her hipbone and fell dejectedly on his side, his orbs shrouded by the rumpled ebon locks sprinkled over his profile, but she saw his lips, adamantly pressed into a straight firm line and his clenched jaw tightening venomously; this man was... not impressed by her absurd action.

The quietude that loomed over them after that moment of carelessness, of pure maniacal hysteria was heavy and painful to withstand; Sakura felt like chocking on oxygen, her lungs refused to breathe, her mind encompassed the lucidity of her action and... her heart thudded in her chest being the only source of noise except for her sharp inhales.

The way she shimmied on her feet, trembling in pure fear of this already unstable man, her small shoulders sagging under the pressure of his silence, of his _dreadful_ silence, a low tide that threatened to flood the gulf and drown the golden sand like a cyclone lingered in the air. She wanted to pivot on her heel and fuss from the bedchamber, from the temple from his... _presence_.

"I...I..." She stammered weakly, barely a whisper could be heard from her sunken voice, horror making her tears freeze along her cheeks and now her orbs twinkled like silver under the sun. "S-Sasuke I`m... s-sorr—"

An apology wont suffice in that situation and she knew it; it wasn't the fact that she hurt him but her insolence to slap _him_ when she was in clear disadvantage and plus this man just proved that he had the strings, he was the master puppeteer and she even led him to Tsunade-shishou without knowing.

 _Now_ she really did screw things up badly; endangering everything because of her naivety, because of inexperience and inability to deny Sasuke and elude his illusory feelings she put everyone at risk.

And all her pent up frustration now burnt on Sasuke's opaline skin, an impulse in the spur of the moment she had to actually _express_ herself; express anger, vexation, frustration and negative emotions that a Priestess should not.

The hand that clutched her wrist was so briskly and the motion so fluid that Sakura didn't even have time to backpedal from Sasuke, only her heart and the spur of adrenaline made her knees jitter and an eclipse has veiled her orbs momentarily. "Oh!"

The same hand that now trembled violently like she touched burning charcoals, tingling and itching because of the harshness of her slap has been crooked and bent in an almost painful position as Sasuke hauled her to him like she weighed nothing at all, a flittering silk veil of a bride swishing into the breeze of a wind rippling into the breeze she careened towards him colliding with his chest; oxygen stammered into her throat hindered by the nub that formed there and she gasped lightly. "Sas—"

Her rutilant imprint, the outline of her fingertips splashed against his cheek colliding with the marble of his creamy skin mirrored the fury spiraling in fractal star shapes around his irises; orbs tinged by the shade of incessant Sharingan watching her with cruel demonic rage.

"—I," He started with his maxillaries so tauten and clasped in a ferocious clutch that his teeth clattered and his words unfurled as barely eligible. "will never degrade myself into hitting a _woman_."

Somehow, his epistles didn't sound reassuring at all on the contrary, the seething feeling behind them was utmost demonic, spatting those words like beads of a snake`s venom, hissing into her face; noses brushed against one another as Sasuke literarily hauled her up from the ground with her toes barely brushing over the carpet fidgeting frantically in search for solid _ground_. "But... there are certain things that I _can_ do."

What was truly sad in the way a crooked smirk curved and sinister, malicious and foreboding ill intent was that this time, he his ration was not being distorted by anything remotely demonic, sinister, alien or trying to pervade his mind and control him, no.

This time, the rage belonged to _him_ , lucid and vivid as he reeled, bristling in such fury that he hasn't felt in ages.

In fact, his knuckles tinged purple as his fingertips coiled viciously fisting the fabric of her kosher creamy clothes, tacking on her small back, while his other hand nearly crushed the flimsy bone of her wrist leaving a circular red stain on her skin similar to the one burning on his cheek.

Never _ever_ in his life has a woman dared to _slap_ him and somehow... Sasuke felt her act downright insulting and unacceptable.

Since when did he allowed her such a level of liberty around him? yes, he was not being a heartless bastard to her entirely even going as far as to disclose to her Itachi`s backstory, something that shall have been a vestige to his sincerity, as much as he allowed himself to get close to her and gain her trust.

Trust that has been interlaced with his sincere feelings; that he didn't aim to o break their trust and he never ever actually treated her with the same level of hideous brutality as other prisoners, but her capricious temper that churned inside of her, as much as they were justified for a woman who was yet to discover her origins peeved Sasuke.

He was not good in handling such turbulent and unstable conniptions patiently; he had people to quell such situations and he only intervened when things were going downhill rapidly with no return -such as Jūgo's case. "C...Certain... things...?"

Her soft murmur sent a tremor along his spine and only enhanced his exasperation with this woman; honestly he didn't have time to coddle this child, to soothe and calm her nor did he have the patience.

His orbs alone sent her heart into a frenzy and not a good one; something about him made her gulp twice afraid of this man and she had all the reasons to be.

Heart`s thuds now freezing along her spine, she gasped lightly when Sasuke let the hand that was encircled around her waist sink further into the softness of her clothes and, in one harsh pull of his fist, he peeled it from around her shoulders as the material crinkled before tearing, sliding along her forearms in one rippling motion. "Ah— what... no—"

"—I have been as gentle as any other _captor_ with his prisoner," Why did his words sound so... resolute, unswerving, capricious and evil and why couldn't she dispute with Sasuke`s protest as he tore the clothes off her discarding the luxurious garment aimlessly on the floor, following the flittering fabric fell on the plush carpet with a soundless thud, unraveling her nudity to him.

She was too frozen and scared by his sudden brutal attitude to be ashamed of her bare forms now gleaming into the moon softly; she was beautiful in her nudity, her skin and features all glowing with an angelic aurora, a mixture of creamy ivory and virgin rose, an oil painting of a maiden. "but I can also be _cruel_... like you do _not_ want me to be... _Sakura_."

Her name... the way he spat her name felt wrong, wicked and dangerous, sending shivers along her spine and all the hair along her arms stood erect, the back other nape and behind her ears prickling with shivers like she went in overdrive, alertness, panic and epinephrine suffused through her veins in upcoming apprehension. "Sasu...ke I`m... sorr..."

Wilting entirely crushed and vanquished by _those_ eyes, remorseful and vindictive they pierced into her own then mapping Sakura`s form with a flickering of a new resolve she shivered and trying to elude him, to backpedal in vain. "Hn." He crushed her with that curl of his lips earthwards, carelessly hauling her back to him.

The bareness of their uncovered chests burned both of them when her lively breasts, supple, round and plush, soft and delicate pressed against his strong sculpted pectorals, heartbeats intertwining and tickling with different cadences as they both gasped for different reasons. "Ahmmn—"

Without any other words or delicacy whatsoever, Sasuke crushed her into his arms and smashed his lips forcefully against Sakura`s mouth.

Baffled, she gasped widely in surprise while he suckled on her lower lip, gumming it with his canines until the soft petal bled crimson red, his tongue laving it with a searing sensation burning onto the soft tissue, forcibly rolling into her mouth; parting her lips until her maxillaries hurt while his organ filled her hot caver.

She didn't even have time to take a generous breath and Sasuke was already ravishing her mouth with a searing kiss, a tempestuous clasp around her lips the prisoner of his own, hot, wet, angry and ferocious and... she did not like it.

"Hmm..." Fiddling and trashing into his iron hold, Sakura tried to pry her lips from his clutch without success, only succeeding in parting the now bruised lips even more for Sasuke to pillage her cavern, all the words and moans of protest now thundering into the back of Sasuke`s throat, shattering into his chest.

Touching his _heart_ but this time something bubbled inside him furiously and he could actually overlook her emotions, the sentiments confined now unlocked and traveling past their Jutsu, how Sasuke was hurting this frail girl who was incapable to defend against him without feeling remorse; his vexation shrouded his reason.

Sakura`s left palm fisted into a desperate punch thwacking his shoulder trying to escape from his iron grip, but Uchiha quickly blocked her whacks, simply enriching her wrist and tearing her hands off him, locking them behind her back successfully enclosing Sakura into a tight, suffocating embrace; that one was anything _but_ affectionate.

She had no escape, her knees brushed between Sasuke`s thighs and her soft nether lips grazed accidentally against the lump in his pants, crippling the cotton fabric, both shivering in response to the short electric bolt when their bodies touched.

 _No no stop please_ , Sakura`s mind kept reiterating, pleading, begging, sobbing through their kiss as hear tears, moist and sating soft shimmered at the corners of her squeezed shut orbs damping Sasuke`s cheek, while he kept on suckling fervently at her puckered lips, swallowing her wails and protests.

He heard her begging for him to stop in his mind, though their Jutsu but her refusal to be submissive and protesting attitude excited him; especially when she teetered and trashed into his arms, their thighs now grazing against one another massaging because Sasuke used his left leg forcing her legs apart by pushing his knee forward to keep hers apart, not wanting to risk her to knee him in his loins.

Sakura was completely locked in that position, with her lower back curved dangerously low and her heart cantering into her chest fervently, ration lost and senses sending her alertness into hysteria.

Uchiha could feel it though their kiss that she run out of air nearly hyperventilating and desperately trying to breathe thought their lip lock, and steal oxygen from _his_ lungs.

She could do that if she wanted, Sasuke mentally smirked cruelly, evilly. She wanted to be savage?

No problem, because he too could be a demon if she wanted to play like this. Her cheeks were puffy and blushing madly because the lack of oxygen, because of his lips forcefully pressed against her, because of hormones and adrenaline, the need to escape, the panic and lust, the contradicting emotions... all left her weak and running out of energy.

Like a fish out the tank, Sakura rapidly stopped tossing into his arms, only sobbing weakly. When he felt her slag and nearly faint into his arms, Sasuke tore his lips with a pop like enjoying a strawberry with his lips suckling Sakura`s succulent petals in one torpid hard motion; then immediately attacked the cord of her pulse, teeth grazing then sinking into the skin, painfully.

"Harrrgh... no... Sasuke please don't... please..." Sakura` pleaded in vain, gasping violently, her breasts pressing into his chest crushed by him barely breathing into his steel embrace, his body a golden cage for the captured paradise bird, pinning her wings. "please... let go... you are hurting me..."

He didn't stop as he traced her tongue over her lips feeling blood smearing it, wincing in pain at the harshness of his hard turbulent kiss and she jolt into his arms when his lips sucked on her pulse, teeth marking her skin savagely. "Ah!"

Sasuke has never been so cruel, so unlike his normal delicate, composed and fine self. Lean fingers around her fragile wrists were a steel lock of handcuffs.

His iron grip around her bones tightened until teardrops welled under the rim of her eyelids; her arms went numb and the skin around purple like the fading glow of her jutsu marked on the same part where his plush fingertips pressed; reacting to the closeness to the caster of the jutsu himself, taking a human manifestation of the spirit, response in synch with Sasuke's ambitions.

His teeth and lips against Sakura`s pulse, nipping and biting on her neck then shoulder sinking into her skin like claws of a demon tainting an angel leaving trails of fire along and burning red marks nearly drawing blood was flaming like pouring salt to an open would.

"noo! S-Stop..." tears were leaking along her cheeks as she dipped her head down, desperately feeling the power leaving her body and arms in waves; alertness with a high dosage of panic rouse inside her chest and she hyperventilated. "Sas—Sasuke stop...!"

Maybe his worst castigating conniption resided in his refusal to _communicate_ , to at least try to justify his capricious act because by now, Sakura understand this about Uchiha Sasuke —ne never acted purely on a whim in utmost sadist, hurting people on a crochet.

"Please... I`m... sorry... truly sorry about..." Her muffled cries were coated into ardent teardrops sprinkling around as she tossed her head right and left, like trying to elude those nightmares unfolding right before her orbs.

Lips coated in the bitterness of her own calescent tears seeping along her flushed cheeks, Sakura tried to pry her hands off Sasuke`s unswerving grip, but it was so facile for him to simply pin them on either side of her head, while his lips attacked her body, every inch of her skin now bearing the red-purple blush of his teeth and lips trailing, kissing, suckling, biting and tasting her like tasting the ugliest side of the demon in him.

Her pure cotton tears, a perfect parallel to Hell, a broken mirror falling from the skies above merged with the moisture in her orbs and her broken plea.

His knee was already gliding between her thighs forcing them wide open while she squeezed her orbs shut so as not to see herself in such a shameful exposed and vulnerable state, the image of a broken angel struggling against _sin_ reflected in his obsidian mirrors. "...stop... s-stop it hurts— ah!"

Of course that she was absolutely powerless to resist him, albeit this time mentally she was trying her best to ward him off, but placating him seemed as an impossible take because this time he was acting on his own free will and it was definitely not a _consensual_ act; Sakura heavily refused the act if he aimed to castigate her and impose his supremacy over her.

Her pert nipples hurt from the veracity of Sasuke`s lips suckling on them with pleasure in his strokes and lust in his eyes, grazing his teeth around the prickling skin; the nubs tautened under his touch as his abrasive tongue laved her rosy areola, but those shivers of her traitorous bodily reactions were not trigging _mental_ pleasure.

She felt trapped, cornered and forced by him like he was not leaving her any leeway to ration, to express herself only took by force.

"Ahmm—"The Priestess had to hinder a moan when his knee dabbed against her nether lips pressing hard onto her open core rubbing through her lattice folds, the cloth scraping her deliciously as the knot into her belly started to boil and bubble. "noo..." She finished with a murmured lament, turning her head on her left side to elude one of his kisses.

Instead, Sasuke`s lips landed on her jawline and he happily nipped on the elegant bone, suckling on the sensitive skin of her ear lobe then skimming along her swan neck, savoring the fear pumping through her vessels.

His strong digits kept an impenetrable steel grip around her wrists, now leaving burning marks on her porcelain skin and she kept on tossing and trashing under him.

Instead, Sakura only made her predicament even worse; the friction between their sweaty bodies, the way her belly grinded against his sculpted abdomen, the fire that his strong body exuded, visibly aroused with hormones and adrenaline woven with lush desire fused the determination to force her into sleeping with him. "Sasuke... let go..."

She felt the pressure of his kisses showering and claiming every smidgen of her skin, simmering over her body like staying under the scorching sun of the dessert a helpless voyeur, wilting under its cremating power, all her petulant feelings now being reduced to naught. "no... AH!"

Her agonizing cry felt as a laceration of his honed blade infused with Chidori discharge literarily tearing Sasuke`s skin and making him bleed, numb and paralyzed when he straddled her hips under the pressure of his own strong body and, in one hard fluid motion of his spine arching deeply against her, he thrust inside her unprepared body all the way to the hilt. "No! NO!"

Momentarily, she went rigid at the sudden penetration while he careened forward filling her as all the smothered rage that was not all due to her misbehave alone poured into that forceful thrust.

She was already a mermaid without the vast ocean to glide through and trapped under the pressure of his rock hard body hindering all her twiddling jerks and attempts to evade him, but there was nothing more that she could do from that position but cry, beg him with ardent words soaked in fresh tears that now rimmed her drowsy orbs.

"No... get out... please..." When she opened her orbs, imploring him with a look that echoed form the thudding of her bubbling heart, her stare pierced though him agonizingly and those unspoken epistles that now welled into the depths of those emerald gemstones.

Even _he_ felt ashamed at how reproachful and castigating her innocent and helpless stare looked; staring right into the mirrors of his own, sin felt worse than scorching into the flames of Hell for breaking the wings of a caged white dove, now surrounded by wilting petals of a red rose; the tinge of vice trying to smear what was once pure like crystal. "Sasu...ke... it h-hurts... it hurts so badl- ahh!"

The last Uchiha knew that she was not prepared for this, for making love to him twice in that night still being sore and sensitive after the first time, especially since he used little to none foreplay and she was mentally stricken by panic and despair while he perched atop her flimsy body restraining every movement; enclosing her like a thirsty wolf encircling the helpless lamb, nourishing from he smell of fear radiating from every pore.

The fragrance of fresh _blood_ enhancing the spell of the beast inside his body; but this time, he was fighting with himself instead of external demons.

Leaning forward with an austere look on his face as if he felt no pang of remorse at his act, Sasuke let his chin rest on the junction between her neck and shoulder so as he wouldn't have to see her expression of broken pain as he reduced her to an object of punishment, dishonoring her by transgressing her will and modesty.

And wordlessly -there was nothing that could be said between them- he only strengthened his hold on her arms albeit she long stopped wiggling and trying to free her frail hands form his cluster.

Sasuke thrust inside her dry passageway feeling a bit of discomfort at the friction between them since she was far from excited and rinsed enough to accommodate him, and thus his penetration was less smooth and fluid than normal, adrenaline and vexation shrouded that tinge of physical soreness, allowing him to get aroused faster than she was. "No..."

Sakura`s whimpers resounded above the sound of his engorged member piercing though her now sagging body, the sound of skin scraping against skin, his thighs rubbing against her own, her breasts brushing over his pectorals as he moved against her like a snake lurching forward to press its fangs into his prey`s pulse; they tucked on his heart momentarily but he couldn't forgive her for trying to be on the same level with him. "please... let go... I`m sorry… I`m sorry…"

Sasuke knew that she was feeling pain; it was obvious from how her puffs of laborious breaths were fire fanning against his shoulder, from the way her small fists clasped viciously like trying to withstand that pain or anchored from something her nails pressed into the softness of her palm; how her muscles tensed whenever he retracted as she winced nipping her lower lip to stop a broken cry.

Then how she clenched her jaw and maxillaries and her teeth gnashed together when he thrust forward, her entire body shimmying and going rigid like wanting to hinder the pain at any cost; ironically enough it would have been less agonizing for her to relax and not oppose him because her inner muscles tried to block his penetration in a vain despair; he was stronger that she was, overwhelming, implacable and cruel.

This time... he was _savage_ like he promised and in fact, ironical how it all went down. Uchiha Sasuke was indeed _raping_ her, forcing the Priestess against her will not into the forest as a caged enemy but into the vaults of her own Shrine as her captor, and he breached all the laws of modesty, dignity, care and respect. "Why Sasuke..."

Her quest sounded broken and sloppy, but at the same time justifiable. "Why are you... hurting... me like this..." She did nothing extreme for him to act like this; a slap against the cheek was definitely not something that an Uchiha should have reacted about.

Apparently, Sakura didn't know much about their pride and temper, especially _Sasuke`s_. They tended to become passionate and too zealous with their bonds, their inter-personal interactions and the bonds they created, the trust they placed into someone should have been  reciprocated, but then Sakura shattered it with an absurd revolt, stating that she does not trust him and she... loathes him.

That shatter of trust was a rock tossed into the stillness of a lake causing _ripples and the_ hurricane hit her in spirals. "Why..."

There she had that inconspicuous feeling that he was not a _stranger_ to her anymore but oh- how wrongly she has been judging him when in reality... she did not know him at all.

Stupidly, she thought she had a _connection_ to him -to someone- and it gave her hope as rays of light that suddenly emerged from behind dark clouds.

But now Sasuke strewed those figments of blithe and swept the carpet from under her feet, letting her free fall into the abysses of her own mistake; she didn't foresee the trap that has been set for her. And just like an innocent butterfly, Sakura`s wings have been pinned by a net and her flippantly flight _crushed_.

In a dark poetic sense, the Priestess truly sketched a tableau of a butterfly with life fading in and out of her, her aura dissipating slowly as darkness consummated her, huddled into a ball under the pressure of her own weakness and her wrists and ankles clutched with hard iron chains, keeping her _downwards_ , symbolically hauling her from her place of residence -Paradise- hurdling her to the realm of evil, of demons, of decadence; downwards.

All around her, crimson petals of red roses would swivel in deceptive spirals around her, languidly girding her form to contrast with the loss of innocence but still preserving delicacy, finesse, the ineffable _beauty_ of a girl in the cups of womanhood, and albeit wilting into a world that did not welcome her, where she did _not_ belong, she still preserved her purity.

Contrasting with the passing of time, Sakura seemed trapped into a loophole where time became a diluted substance without a contour perishing into the myriads of tears streaking along her cheeks, damping the white clothes swathing her flimsy forms; so suave, so pure that it _truly_ made Sasuke`s heart thud and tuck painfully, like sharing her agony overflowing through their Jutsu.

Sasuke did not even realize that Sakura`s crumbling feelings were freely traversing barriers to seeping inside him and were _not_ due to the Jutsu that kept her bound and docile, no.

They truly did establish a connection but it was Uchiha the one who eluded it and heavily denied it, knowing its exacerbated significance.

He felt it just _how_ stupid he was on his very tongue, but that did nothing to cool him off on the contrary, the more her tears simmered along her cheeks, on the corners of her mouth mingling with his own lips when he roughly tried to kiss her openly on her now bruised petals, the taste made his mind churn in repulse, not at her because even weeping with such salty crocodile tears, she still had such a fruity aromatic taste; delicious, heavenly, bittersweet, nectar.

Stolen innocence and subduing such an innocent woman felt aphrodisiac to all the demons and beasts and men who were so prone to dominance and control, but the disgust resided in his own image about _himself_.

Yes, Sasuke knew he was brutal and a royal bastard for this deserving nothing more but her hatred after that but... still it did nothing to stop him from plunging inside her deeply, going fluidly as deep as she would take him, ravaging her in ways that he shouldn't.

"Sas-Sasuke... s-stop... please it- i-it hurts... so bad please..." Sakura`s walls girded around him probably because she tried her best to push him out of her, but that only added to her pain.

Her smooth walls were slowly getting slicker and wetter, but not enough, on the contrary it seemed to add to the burning pain on her small cleft as he kept on stretching her forcefully pillaging inside her; thrusting hard, _too_ hard fighting her reticence in bittersweet triumph. "No- AH!"

Muscles stiffen, taunt and rippling along his arms and sculpted legs, pounding of vigor and manhood sheathed his body in a steel shield, impenetrable, impossible to break, exuding an implacable virility and ferocity, so much that Sakura helplessly twined her legs with his, her toes grazing the sinew of his calves, twiddling and tossing under him fervently, in vain.

Only his exhales, strolling in short puffs through is lightly parted lips and fanning hotly over her pearly skin stood as the sole vestige of humanity in him, reminding Sakura that Sasuke too was a mortal and not a wraith, a demon emerging from the shadows to swindle and captivate her with his charm, with his dark tempestuous desires that now dashing towards her ferociously, demonically and crushing her spirit.

Teardrops, opaline and honed like powdered with pearl dust now rimmed her eyelids seeping from her hyaline orbs along the curve of her flushed cheeks as she sobbed lighter now since any morsel of energy drained her power to struggle. "Sasuke..."

The consonance in his name while she whimpered it, blubbed it with the same melodiousness as the last wilting violin playing its last November requiem, felt painful for Sasuke`s heart; his chest, a leeway that shall have remained a zilch cavern dug into the solitude of his spirit now suffused with revulsion against his own shameful act.

Her heart, a caged bumblebee pleading to soar towards the sun once more thudded into her chest ,a broken diapason trying to surmount his sardonic ambition successfully made a chord inside him tremble; blindly seeking for _feeling_ in lust, for forgiveness into the thick smoke of sin, his obsidian orbs strolled to Sakura`s face.

The look on her broken visage, so disenchanted, so pained and empty, hopeless and desponded as she sobbed nipping on her lower lip, nose running and sniffling because of fresh tears welling into her balmy orbs, cheeks puffed by how she muffled those short cries of pain whenever he thrust inside, that broken murmured plea in how she turned her head away from him, mentally begging for this to be over soon; counting down the moments that now stretched like an eternity into her mind, desperately, hysterically mooring to something that seemed soothing.

Sometime amidst Sasuke`s tempestuous assault ravaging her merciless, he freed her benumbed limbs as her blood stopped flooding through her paralyzed fragile hands, realizing that he couldn't deprive himself from touching her every curve, stroke, squeeze and mold his palms along her feminine beauty anymore.

Sakura was too drained of energy to push him off, albeit she attempted to push him backwards with her palms falling flat upon his tauten pectorals.

"Sasu... ke...! S-Stop no... please... e-enough Sasuke... it _hurts_...!" His ears heard her blubbered wails and sniffs, how badly her heart wept and pleaded, but his mind was deaf to her cries.

There were red marks in the same outline with her princess digits imprinted on his alabaster chest, but soon enough she gave off, her nails gliding along his ribs and pectorals, ultimately latching to his strong biceps as she bounced and arched because of his thrusts.

The luminesce in her orbs faded off in the same cadence with her energy dissipating like the last trails of darkness perishing into the dawn, pulverized by the first rays of the morning sun.

Sasuke noticed that her eyes were expressive, shining with emotion when she radiated of a fulgurating happiness, when her fulminant innocence bloomed, but when she was disheartened, sad and vulnerable the emotion and energy molted and darkened and that was a look on her eyes that absolutely _no_ man could withstand in a woman, no matter how insane and brutal and demon possessed he was.

Even him. Especially someone so perceptive and sensitive to strong emotions like an Uchiha.

A small symbolic gesture, so insignificant into how Sasuke`s hips kept her thighs stretched apart, wide to give him ample space to move frenetically inside her, to rub his sculpted abdomen against the softness of her skin, glistening muscles covered in hot droplets of perspiration brushing over silk, her fiddling princess-like hands coiled around his neck; for whatever reason, the fact that she still embraced _him_ the same man who literary forced her into an act that was not consensual, fell heavy upon his shoulders.

This should have been beautiful and feel nice, right? Then why did it hurt so much and why tears drowned all the smiles, all the caresses?

The Priestess` skin, pear and glossy, disrobed and pearly, suave and creamy like dabbing his digits through cotton and silk fabrics, now withered like bells of a Lily of the Valley, this paradigm of happiness, hope and purity wilting and perishing.

Maybe in his subconscious, Sasuke aimed to truly set her _free_ from all the barriers, all the cages surrounding her nimble form.

There were multiple walls erected around Sakura, an unconquerable fortress which deflected even the light and thus not giving her any chance to peep on the outside and see the truth; just like _he_ once hasn't been capable of seeing Itachi and his clan`s real truth, almost ending up with strings attached to his limbs and manipulated as a brainless marionette.

His lips, firm but supple, airy and smooth like rich chocolate dabbed along her chin and jawline, his heart twitching when she nipped on her own petals refusing to kiss him back when he pecked her twice, strolled along the valley of her ivory breasts, tingling her skin with butterfly kisses along her protruding ribs and she shuddered at the contact, arching her spine. "Hmmm..."

Her breath halting somewhere into her lungs, Sakura gasped as her senses got trapped into a frenetic carousel ride as Sasuke`s lips meandered earthward, forcing her to open up her orbs and see the fluid motion of his hips plunging upwards between her thighs. "Ahhmm… n-no—"

Sakura`s entire spine arched and shimmied with million tremors when his member stretched her smooth walls in one breathtaking thrust, her mind clouding and fogging as she felt a small comet facing a violent cosmic storm, whirling her aimlessly towards an unknown destination.

"Ahhh... Sasuke... Sasuke p-please just... at l-least... ahmmm... g-go _slower_..." Trying to reach a compromise, she pleaded once again , her both legs intertwining and wrapping around his straight ones, her gazelle calves locking around the back of his knees and pressing down onto him whenever he lurched forward; her body language entirely transmitted how uncomfortable she was. ...b-because _this_ h-hurts... _you_ hurt me... and it d-doesn't feel as good as... b-before..."

That new position, albeit succeeding in partly slowing down his momentum and giving Sasuke less room for pulling almost entirely out of her and make his penetration less lively and hard, brought them closer to each other in a more intimate position, their hips and legs now united with no single iota of distance between them in a maze of limbs; their shadows vowed like one single soul. "Hn."

He merely snorted mostly annoyed that he couldn't thrust inside her tight core as rapidly as he wanted, but his mind focused more on closing his lips around her belly button, his tongue glissading along the elastic cartilage tasting her milky ivory skin as his muscle whirled into the small hole, then trailing along its contour; she couldn't prevent a moan to escape her throat this time.

"Oh!" Her senses churned and teetered, confused by the antagonist feelings that Sasuke gave her; the elastic cleft between her nether lips felt sore and burning her because she wasn't wet enough to accommodate his well-endowed manhood, her inner walls weren't relaxed enough and thus sending ripples of a searing pain along her lower muscles and spine, but his lips, moist, luscious and soft filled her skin with pleasurable shivers, which swarmed through her chest.

They were not enough to quench the pain pulsating between her thighs, but they sufficed in warding off part of the shame she felt by being raped by him albeit she _wanted_ to make love to him; of course, she liked it to be voluntary, a consensual act where _she_ agreed to this.

Probably the worst part of it was his obscure motive to be so out of character, so out of control, so demented and brutal to her and his laconic almost sarcastic tenue.

Sakura felt in the shadows by his motives, whether Sasuke forced her like this because he felt insulted by that trifling slap against his cheek or he simply aimed to demonstrate the difference in roles and power between the captor and the prisoner.

If only he would _talk_ to her, verbalize, or at least connote what type of figments creased his sweaty forehead now it wouldn't feel like something _forced_.

She desperately _needed_ to know what Uchiha was thinking about, what type of drive guided his movements, because if he truly nurtured acrimonious or offended feelings towards her moment of bubbling furor, then she could apologize to him; and top him from this degrading for a real man act.

"And why would I listen to whatever _you_ have to say?" Weisenheiming and disparaging his words resonated into her ear, the connotation into them bearing the mark of brusque acrimony sounding almost like he mocked her in addition to _hating_ her, every epistle shooting a virtual icicle through her heart; droplets of warm blood sputtering from the wounded organ as Sasuke`s presence didn't play for a tissue to an open wound. "You are million times away from giving _me_ orders... Sakura."

That contumelious determination, adamant and almost corrosive did not sound like a contemptuous hurt ego and this is when Sakura realized that... she did not understand this man at all!

Sasuke was a paradigm of contradictions, the perfect tableau painted in lights, penumbras and grey tinges to intertwine the two polarized extremes, but neither was clear-cut or crystal clear.

Oh Kami— how incredibly _beautiful_ she was; her body, her skin, her innocence reflected on her face, an iceberg white pure rose , the petals of the bud arranged into a symphony of filigree lattice petals dispersed like a bride`s dress twirling in perfect harmony, the nature`s finest crafty work.

Petals, so creamy, so smooth and silky to the touch, the color rich, lush and regal, with a blush of virgin rose powdered middle, her beauty reflected purity, chastity and innocence still in bloom, the cleanness of her soul, pure and fragile, uncorrupted and untouched blooming in the palm of his hands.

And Sasuke forced her open, unwounded the innocence shrouded by virgin strawberry soft curls, with ferocity instead of praising that angelic state with equal grace, penetrated her chastity, this beauty like an animal... his forehead collapsed onto her own, the bones thudding with a low muffled sound, her hair, suave to the touch, an exotic contrast to this pristine face tingling the crown of his head; panting and gasping hotly over her face.

Sakura`s nails sunk into the sinew of his shoulders, her knees resting atop his collarbones, tears mirroring into the onyx of his sapphire eyes.

Sasuke felt it again amassing inside him; that immeasurable darkness that once welled into his heart and was supposedly gone.

He knew that his brother's avatar would never become a Hokage, a protector, a Leader for the Village simply because Hokage entombed the paradigm of a dream that anyone should reach; the illusion turning into reality and not simply the one who shelter and protect everyone from the shadows.

People needed a guide, someone to lead them, to be a sublime representation of strength, humbleness, a tangible fatherly figure to connect the missing dots and not simply someone who safeguards from obscurity.

Such lonely person can never become a group of people`s common dream; there is no dream into loneliness, only misery, pain, emptiness, anxiousness and a morsel of a false sense of protection knowing that someone, somewhere is always _watching_.

But a silent observer, someone like Itachi is going to eventually fade into the penumbras that shrouded his entirely life and be forgotten and erased form the memories, and what leaves behind is a girded secret and the life of a lonely traitor; never understanding an iota of what transpired behind curtains.

Sasuke once believed that the role of a Kage is fulfilled when he managed to quench the disputes and wars between people, but the jive of that half accomplished dream derives from its symbolism.

Such a person would never ever represent a dream that people shall strive for, only a forced way to ensure a false dream of peace.

The concept of common _peace_ remained resided and unchanged for centuries; only the paths, the answers to acquire it varied and led to discord and polarized opinions, ultimately nurturing antagonists whose ideologies clashed at a certain point in time.

For one to become Hokage, he had to pay much heed to what his duties are and what the concept of a Kage, of a _Leader_ who walks in front of the others and united their hearts into one single common goal -peace- compelled.

And truth couldn't be denied; that such a person must always stay in the light and not in the shadows.

And still... in this moment, those old feelings and once ideals resurfaced, trimming through his heart in ripples of conflicting figments, and he had no idea where it came from.

Someone or... _something_ kept on syphoning such demonic dark thoughts and ambitions, almost like he was someone whose duty was to fulfill a dream that remained unattained; of someone who once tried to do the same and  failed.

And the Priestess was the exact sketch of this world full of contradictions and shortcomings that Sasuke tried to desperately change; by concocting an answer to the big question. How could universal peace be attained?

Albeit Naruto`s overview of understanding each other`s heart, of creating bonds and bridges between people sounded juvenile and idealistic since ambition will always exist leading to people seeking for more power, more control over the weak ones, Sasuke ultimately acquiesced to him; and so did everyone in their group of apparently rogue shinobi.

Their actions so far were nothing but a leeway compelling their dreams and, albeit the number one _dobe_ adamantly argued against the massacre of the Village`s Elders, Naruto also compromised with Sasuke just like the young Uchiha agreed to his overview; the future shall be entrusted to the _new generation_ which will not repeat their ancestors'` mistakes.

And thus Naruto reluctantly closed his eyes when Sasuke`s katana pierced the heart of the Third Hokage; to make room for the new generation to quell all the existing conflict in such a wrong shaped world.

Her heavily traditional demeanor posed as a seductive fascination to Sasuke, but at the same time he _rejected_ Sakura`s lack of modernism, of progress, the _revolutionary_ concept of embracing the faint timid bundles of emancipation in her; still mooring to the same long established idiosyncrasy, she failed to depict the _need_ for progress in the village and, especially in people.

And maybe this paradigm of conservatorium, of her ardent convictions over such superfluous accustomed dogmas caused such distemper in Sasuke.

Viewing her act of defiance in slapping him, as token of castigation for his own convictions, his mind immediately perceived her simmering furious gesture as a virtual _clash_ between two ideologies.

In his mind, Sasuke had the concept of being correct in his assumptions, an avid believer into the potency of his own visionary overview and thus Sakura, an indoctrinated manipulated conventional _puppet_ had the audacity to raise against his modern ideologies, indirectly _refusing_ and denying the chance to progress.

She, along with the symbols of an ancestral practice which didn't apply anymore -Shimura Danzo, the Council of Elders, the Third Hokage, Tsunade Senju and most of the Jonins- posed as dark _roots_ which needed to be _severed_ in order for the Village to progress, to be saved.

To be returned to the _Real Kings_ which will find a way to acquire common peace and fix the shortcomings of the precious generation.

Once, Asuma Sarutobi, the Third Hokage`s son but shockingly the one who denied his vision entirely ultimately _betraying_ the Leaf and finding refugee in Sasuke`s group as one of their elite members, highlighted an universal truth, once that they all acquiesced to: the Main Cast of the play, the ones who were entrusted with the future of the Village, the visionary minds set to progress and modernism was the **new generation** of shinobi.

The ones whose mission was to acknowledge the goods and flaws in how their ancestors lived, learn from the wrongdoings of the past, know their history -the real truth and not the fabricated past- were them; the next generation. In a game of shogi, they would be the _King_ to protect. And Sasuke acquiesced to it.

Or, for the simple fact that Sakura, another _young_ shinobi pertaining to the next generation, the one who has been also entrusted with the Future, with the Will of Fire, has been _cursed_ with the title of a Priestess, posed as a major contraction.

The ones who entrusted her with that role, this sacrifice, heavily denied the role of the _King_ in that Grande Play that was the Leaf Village, because they killed her will, limiting her voluntary actions.

An orphan with memories encased, they killed her roots, severing her from any connection to the past, and thus _denying_ her right to inheriting the Will of Fire.

What truly vexed Sasuke in Sarutobi Hiruzen, was not necessarily his questionable acts and shortcomings -all traits of a _human_ and not a shinobi- but his _hypocrisy_.

How could he speak about inheriting the Will of Fire, the _bond_ that shall connect all the shinobi who had the **chakra** as common element, something to bring them closer, present in _every_ one of the inhabitants of the Leaf, when he personally overlooked and _allowed_ segregation of hatred and discrimination to be passed within its borders.

Naruto... his Uchiha clan... _Sakura_ , were all prime undeniable examples of that aspect. And for that mistake alone, The Third Hokage had to pay with his life.

Because albeit the justice did not belong to Sasuke and his group, the _Will of Fire_ as they envisioned and perceived it was legitimate enough to clean their consciences of every remorse; mostly Naruto`s because Sasuke hardly nurtured such trifling sentiments.

And now glancing into Sakura`s dejected pleading orbs, so emerald as they shimmered with diamond tears, Sasuke depicted the same docile attitude towards that flawed system; not because her ineptitude to fight him off, but because her resolve _swayed_ between believing him, the Elders of herself.

He loathed this petulant character in people; the ones who couldn't be _true_ to themselves and have to courage to cling to their ideals, as flawed as they were, and move forward with confidence.

Sick and tired with that obsequious traditional complacence that Sasuke encountered in the majority of the traditional women, kunoichi included, he punished her for that annoying submission.

Probably, his reeling mind now struggled to find an explanation for an unacceptable behavior, because deep down inside, he saw a delicacy and an angelic beauty in Sakura that he once depicted in his mother, Mikoto.

Thus, the self-culpability resulted from the way he tarnished such an empyreal exquisiteness, the embodiment of selfless love, a plethora of emotional exuberance when giving herself _completely_ instead of cherishing it jarred through him painfully.

Maybe part of him still found it hard to ward that imbroglio off, so that was the reason why he flippantly leaned forwards pecking a trembling tear that leaked to the contour of her lower lip, softly kissing her once... twice with gentleness.

Entombing unspoken words of apology and plea for her to understand his point of view as well, his own lips almost shimmied clustering her own; the pressure barely there to be deemed as a passionate kiss, but _feelings_ frothed ardently, symbolically in almost desperate lack of tact and inexperience in how to handle such a white rose.

Sakura`s innocence, even know as she sagged under him simply allowing his body to capture her own, still gliding through her sore lips in hard thrusts, baffled Sasuke.

Her stare was not in the bit judgmental or reproachful, only disappointed and pleading, _hoping_ that the pain would get somehow better.

And he was not referring to the _physical_ pain. Fragile hands, swathed in milky porcelain, fine as bohemian crystal and beautiful as a rhapsody of spring were still firmly locked around his neck.

Sakura held him tightly against her pert chest, heartbeats thudding at unison, one striving to keep in pace with the other, trying to find the rhythm to the same canon, like trying to find solace in him; the same man who still took her vigorously, not once slowing down his pace.

On the contrary, in his exacerbation of inner conflict, Sasuke hasn't even realized that he went even faster and _harder_ , his engorged member, robust and fairy chunky glissaded through her petals, her elastic skin, the filigree softness of her now sleek body creating friction between them which was painfully delicious. "Hmnnn..."

Muffled by his lips dabbing upon her own, Sasuke did not realize what Sakura blubbed to him, but her murmured rippled through his skin, reverberating into his chest; her entire body, fragile and kosher, beautiful and angelic, wrapped in pure snow wings, twiddling under his own.

It seemed that no matter what he did, how nefarious Sasuke's acts were, even going as far as to set his mind on _raping_ her to punish for her act of defiance, Sakura still had a way to placate him, to temper and soothe his rage; now that he changed his obstructed view, Sasuke realized that he failed to take _her_ opinion into account and see with Sakura`s eyes.

If her will has been crushed form the beginning and a past and a destiny have been fabricated for her to keep her in the shadows, then how could he punish her for not knowing how to be free when freedom in her definition was heavily different to his own?

He didn't listen to her own version, never trying to understand her point of view, but _patience_ was not Sasuke`s forte, at least not with listening to people`s problems.

And maybe that was one reason for him failing to entirely _see_ through his brother`s genjutsu; he didn't have the patience to dig deeper into the story and listen patiently... repeating the same mistake now with Sakura, who didn't even loathe him.

She did try to reason that she shall despise him, resent and castigate Uchiha Sasuke, damn him to Hell, spite into his face and be firmer on her position, to _loathe_ him and hate him for his brusque behavior... but her heart, the one who has always been the most sincere with Sakura wouldn't allow it.

The more she found humanity in his vulnerability, in those unstable gestures that were not characteristic -or at least he hid them well- the more Sakura felt helplessly attracted do him; even if at this point, Sakura mistook her _love_ for him to the sense of protecting and _saving_ him from hat darkness.

But that was because she never had any interactions to the others to a more personal level and intimacy was an alien concept.

She started to grow fond of his friends too, Naruto especially that jubilance in his blithe demeanor and his easiness of befriending the others and reach their hearts.

Giving herself to another and allowing that man to do such things to her body however, was something that Sakura couldn't imagine herself do if that man was not Sasuke.

It simply wouldn't click into her mind; her body shivered in frivolous repugnance at the mere thought of letting another man... corrupt and transgress her frame like that.

Blushing shyly like a little doll, she tried to picture herself _enjoying_ a man`s virile body sheathed between her legs, her nudity exposed to him entirely in a moment of intimacy, trust and timid confidence, felt _wrong_ and cheap and... completely not proper.

It did not have the same _familiar_ feeling of rightfulness as when she was with Sasuke; with him, even such a barbarous act had a meaning, like he did nothing that wasn't justifiable in his mind, nothing without a purpose and even so... even as her calves now kept his legs trapped in an almost painful clutch, holding him tight like wanting to let her pain seep to him, she forgave him.

Stupidly, yes, Sakura new but she forgave him for that. Mostly because his kiss, his soft lips that still ignored above her own, searching, blindly and helplessly almost desperately trying not trigger a reaction, a reciprocation had but one meaning; _I am sorry_.

Leaving her the opportunity to decide whether she _did_ want to or not. The more her squeezed orbs allowed her mind ruminate about his body language, what such an action oriented man of few words but conspicuous gestures tried to convey, the more Sakura relaxed and wilted under him

And without even noticing it, she winded her hips against his, spine actually arching to open to Sasuke`s thrusts more; they still stung and hurt a bit boot not as worse as the first minutes.

She had no idea how much time has it passed, probably an eternity, probably a moment, and Sasuke didn't either.

It did not matter when they were together; only the rhythmical drum of rain droplets pelting against the windows were the sole vestige of time passing _outside_ the Shrine.

Inwardly, however, time molted into intimacy; such a transcendental convolution manifestation of passion.

Words dissipated into the beads of perspiration glimmering along their bodies, skin brushing and grinding against skin, so alive, so rapturous until distance and ration molded into the shadows encircling their forms.

Fingertips that once immobilized and castigated now turned poetic, meaningful, lustful, needing and sending jolts along her spine.

A pair of moist lips huddled into a bundle girding Sakura`s and she opened up for him; she let Sasuke kiss her flippantly, his touch now less demonic, less punitive and valiant and softer, sweeter... his peculiar aroma a dulcet nectar percolating over her skin; honey coated the pain and turned it into pleasure.

"Sasuke..." Turning her head over her shoulder, his lips grazed the corners of her petals, sweet peaches popped from between his parted lips brushing along her jawline; her nails however carried on with their kittenish sashay along the curves and planes of his sculpted back. "Ahhh... _need_... I..."

Desire melted into the frail trembling of her blubbered words, not knowing how to let him know that she needed him to coddle her with all his passion, his sprinkling over her nudity like a blazing fire rain shower.

"I know... _I_ ," _Am so sorry_. "know." And he did not refer to her broken plea for his body to swing her, to rock her fervently as he did now, his pace falling into a precise rhythm, their hips embracing and dancing tougher.

Slick and lush, firm but soft like velvet molding along the waves of the ocean, traversing any boundaries, his member glissaded through her lattice folds.

Beautiful like an iceberg rose, petals interlaced into a poetic creation of nature`s perfect beauty, her body opened up for him, captivating, pure, feminine, perfect in forms and shapes; touched by no other man but _him_.

His muscles trembled and rivulets of perspiration twiddled along the bulky veins atop the swell of his biceps and shoulder blades while he arched his spine deeply, the pendulation of his hips firm, fluid like water streams, deep, hard and precise, sharp but only hitting the sweet spot where pleasure unwounded. "AHH!"

Always soft as petals of roses sprinkled upon a bed covered by fire flames of passion and swished bed sheets, her nether lips tingled his skin when his generous girth stretched the aperture between her thighs.

The friction between them transfixed Sasuke far _far_ away somewhere over the bridges of time, of perception; Sakura seemed to be molded from lights and smoke.

Her skin, rich, creamy, airy like furs swiveling into the horizon, supple and plush, amazing to the touch, a mirage, a phantasm, his fingertips grazed and molded over her voluptuous hips and cotton derrière, keeping her hips in a steady pace so as he would reach her even _deeper_. "Hmmmn... p-please..."

Whether it still hurt her, Sasuke did not know, but there was a hyaline layer glazing her emerald orbs, peas of desire rimming her now vitreous emerald diamonds, while she pleaded; begging him for more albeit his intention prior to this was childing with impure figments.

Something about his new mysterious powers, a ghost possessing his mind synchronized and intimately connected to the Chakra Fruit obstructed his ration, blurred his vision. Sasuke apperceived it conspicuously, the underside of his palm simmering like someone applied a stamp onto his skin.

Sasuke would normally _never_ force a woman into anything, but Sakura... multiple feats about her exacerbated his inner frustrations, including how her hands forgave the brutality of his touches.

How her mouth thirstily sought for his own, timidly, her innocence demure and angelic and he leaned into her kiss entirely; not fighting her off.

Not eluding her feelings either, only allowing her to nip on his lower lip with sloppy strokes, feverously without rhythm, delicate but not expertly, but incredibly erotic; real, soothing and beautiful like a small miracle.

The moisture of her suave petals jarred into his lower abdomen, a nub in his loins shivering along his erect manhood and his pert sac now bouncing and dabbing against her slick lips. Sakura`s kiss was arousing, very erotic, very sensual, overwhelmingly everything.

"Sakura..." Tentatively he peeped into her orbs while his cheek brushed over her own, both turning their heads to face each other, the close distance, the sparkling intimacy taking both by surprise; his voice barely a low tremor, her name chocolate and rich wine to the hearing. "something is..."

Clicking on his tongue, worlds failed him, but his abyssal expressive orbs conveyed one single message; _I am sorry_.

His left hand that kneaded the inside of her thighs now saddling his hips coddling his body close to her, possessively sharing both pain and pleasure together, now fiddled into the crimpled bed sheets, finding her right one. "happening to... I can`t fully explain it myself..."

His palm pressing atop her small hand, his fingertips slipping though her fingers coiling around her knuckles, he woven their fingers together now both hands pressed atop the tatami squeezing and holding each other tight.

Hot laborious puffs gusted upon her gasping lips from the frenzy of his heart rate, looking into Sasuke`s obsidian orbs now seemed to be an enthralling journey into the ferment of his own heart.

Not trusting her words to correctly express what simmering inside her heart, moved by the tempestuous feelings huddling into Sasuke`s usually unhesitating pools, Sakura let her gestures convey what her mind scribbled, albeit missives now remained suspended upon her parched lips.

Squeamishly, Sakura`s paw sought for Sasuke`s heart frenetically and she found it thudding strenuously betraying reprimanded feelings now unwound from their vault, now losing the unswerving steadiness.

The motion of his hips now melted into a mild cadence, his pendulation metamorphosing into a slow like in a dance cadence, a delicate ballet of his body moving fluidly into her own, gingerly in ample thrusts, the stretching of her creamy walls embracing his vigorous flesh transcribed in only an extremely blissful pressure. "Sasuke..."

It must be a moment of weakness exacerbated by arousal the explanation for the cluster in his heart, but oh- his name has never sounded more _personal_ and intimate than now to his ears.

Intimately, each syllable unruffled from her lips, travelling to him like a pristine white dove holding an olive branch, peaceful, the paradigm of _purity_ , the embodiment of beauty, of touching Paradise with his fingertips, her voice, the look in her hyaline eyes beautified by her angelic fondlings.

"I can`t help it... help myself to... if only for one moment I—" Words that perished into a diluted murmur upon his lips, soft but masculine, rich to the touch succulent and erotically shaped, elegant and elastic cupped her own.

Sakura`s wet tongue timidly fiddled along his lower lip, her upper petal dabbing upon Sasuke`s lower lip while her tongue locked the outline of it with moist strokes; timid at first, coy and curious she kissed him back.

Sasuke has never been good with words, expressing feelings and voluntarily or consensually proclaiming that his resolve might possibly sway under the influence of something so cheesy, incompatible to the image of a veritable unbiased shinobi.

Thus his gestures, his touches, the power huddling into his fingertips held the pen to make his figments be known.

His pace however was more precise, Sasuke adapted quickly smoothly expertly to the new sensation somehow finding it natural and somehow logical to feel in rhythm with her.

Flippantly, leisurely and unhurriedly his sweet kiss deepened deliciously, intimately, intertwined into the embroidery of erotica now looming atop their conjoined bodies.

Angling his chin further, cooking his head on his left side, Sasuke`s nose brushed over her own pressing into her cheek, his own to tongue glided over Sakura`s upper lip, brushing along the underside of her own as she parted her peachy petals more for more access.

The contact with his lips and tongue skimming along the outline of her upper lip, flickering flirtatious only upon the nub that gave it the shape of a heart tangled Sakura`s skin sensually sending jarring tremors along her spine.

His kiss felt delicious, good and beautiful.  
She liked it very much when Sasuke truly kissed her and not only mimicked the stroked of a kiss devouring her mouth forcibly.

He allowed her time to get used to it, respond, realize what was happening, she let her eyes plenty of time to enjoy this, to savor the taste of his lips back.

Tongues glided together moving in synch and taking turns to slid into their hot caverns, her own daring tongue dashing onwards, brushing over his teeth and twirling into the inside of Sasuke`s cheeks; the bones clattering as she forced his mouth open, and he happily complied.

This Priestess definitely had room to improve, her moves were not polished, not expert and meant to impress, to dominate, but her innocent curiosity typical for a young girls curios by the miracles of life discovering the intimacy in the first us blooming womanhood aroused Sasuke.

Excitement and thrill, mental arousal was ten times hotter and astringent than physical excitement and in fact, the former followed obediently the interlaced images fitments harvested by his mind.

Sakura aroused Sasuke terribly, this genuine curiosity and desire do him her touches of an angel brushing her fi get tips along his skin, her lips now cupping his mouth and suckling timidly on his tongue rolled inside her own mouth, sweet sensation of warm saliva moisten information succulent syrupy flesh, the taste of melon and succulent peach ripen to the taste, ambrosia and nectar sent blood huddling into his loins.

 _The truth that no one had her before him, that those cotton paws, timid but curious and kittenish never touched another man`s body before was exhilarating, very_ _meaningful_. Like a blessing…

Tauten bulky veins running along the underside of Sasuke`s velvety length, firm, engorged with hot blood and simmering with hormones rhythmically siphoned inside her smooth walls, throbbing against her skin do she felt everything; every iota every inch of velvet and slick flesh rubbing her this amazing friction transcribed into intimacy of souls was erotic, sensual, natural, irresistibly beautiful.  
All between them.

Sasuke`s hips teetered in slow motion, the sheets now crinkled swishing like velvet chocolate under Sakura`s shoulders, tingling her back, augmenting the shivers revving along her spine.

The luxurious softness of the crimpling fabric felt equally pampering as Sasuke`s skin rubbing along her forms.

Sakura`s twiddling toes, curling in bliss with every full penetration run along his muscular calves, tickling the bulky cords up to his ankles, then wrapping around the back of his knees.

Helplessly, the cheeks of Sakura`s voluptuous heinie flexed as her back arched deeply when his engorged member thrust onwards gliding to her lower back where a frothing knot burst along her column, dissipating as rippling shivers along her limbs; that sensation was to die for. "Ah..." Indescribable, out of this world.

The nub into her lower abdomen girding the walls of Sakura`s passageway bounced south and the painful tightness amassed into the swell of her nether lips, now spread open with all the petal folds erect and brushing over Sasuke`s length while he gliding through her aperture. Pain never had more pleasurable resonance.

Her swollen nipples, pampering to the touch and plush like cotton flowers, delicate, suave and lush hurt into the cluster of his lips, as Sasuke cupped one of the bundles lowering his mouth upon her rose crimpled areola, suckling like anew born baby, savoring the sweetness of Sakura`s nectar skin.

The taste of innocence, exuberant, rich, miraculously sweet and lush coated his lips in honey. His mouth engulfed her pert mound, the size modicum, but pert and rounded, the shade of her skin resembling an oil painting .

The pristine sweet skin of a Priestess, virtuous and modest like women from the past where a woman`s worth transcribed into chastity, the angelic shade of rich pearl, milky and creamy with notes of virgin pink and red rose enhanced the sublime beauty of this angel; the same body that was bouncing and shimmied, her breasts springing up when he thrust inside her never lost innocence.

Purity, suavity got another meaning, another concept from chastity to _intimacy_ , to exalted romantic erotica.

Elegance and grace, dignity and ineffable never vanquished in front of carnal brutality, of salacious thirsts, of primal impulse to castigate, to dominate, to mentally and bodily _possess_. All traits that an Uchiha cherished, praised, _desired_.

Never a man with Sasuke`s noble background would accept another woman in his bed, that did not partake to Sakura`s traits; never but _her_ , this enslaved angel, the embodiment of eternal womanhood, young, pure, beautiful, untouched, a painting in pastel canvas, with sublime curves melting under the pastel colors, oil and luminous shades and subtle erotic penumbras.

A syrupy fruit with succulent pulp he savored her with thirst and hunger in his urgent moves, but his hands, the terrible merciless power channeled through his shinobi appendages sagged as Sasuke`s demonic shadow kneed before the image of fulgurating paradise; the subtle luminosity of her opaline skin, glowing in silver into the pale light was providential.

Sasuke punished this Priestess with his calloused words, castigating her for the verisimilitude of her onwards, for her oblivion, the mind clustered into a cruel illusion, his own revolt to this world's manipulation.

But in return, Sakura _'punished'_ him with her beauty, with sublime grace; she crushed him with defying purity that he never unwounded, only a small morsel of the real concept of _innocence_ , of the sublime primal form of the spirit, the chastity, the purity veiling a young woman transcended the physical maidenhood.

Only _that_ fragment that once seeped from her penetrated lock, peas of blood coated his body, cruel unforgiving object of decadence and sin, a vestige to her stolen virginity truly _belonged_ to Sasuke. Because the rest, Sakura never gave to him.

Enslaved by her beauty, Sasuke had aesthetic sense, fine observant of details, more than he was being given credit for.

His keen eye depicted refined details, subtle nuances, exacerbation of beauty or grotesque, be it beauty or the arts of a ninja, ideologies and flaws of the current system, pain and pleasure, Sasuke was not oblivious.

A work of art she was, the shade of lush pastel-tinted her skin glowed, a brushwork of a female, romantic with rococo elements ornamenting her irresistible femineity, nude and beautiful as she was, a perfection of curves and delicacy.

"Mmmnn..." Those lips, mellow and pulpy, moist with saliva massaged his own, nipping and dabbing on his mouth eagerly, with a subtle hint of thirsty desire.

If Sakura had no concept of desiring someone desperately, then Sasuke definitely embodied _that_ man to corrupt her, to guide her into be smitten to him; give herself to him, her purity to him being offered in more than physical ways.

Lubberly, her tongue tried to roll into his mouth, to take more of his taste albeit Sakura had no notion or control over what she was doing, this entire flamboyant attitude, his playfulness never characteristic.

Smirking softly upon her lips when she brushed her nose over his own trying to find a better angle, Sasuke threaded his digits through her coral hair, his lean appendages threading about those strawberry looks making ringlets around his digits, cupping her face.

Leading her while clustering the swell of her lower petal between his lips, Sasuke opened up his mouth more allowing her full access and she immediately glissaded inside, his thrusts unconsciously getting harder and sharper again, but this time she did not protest; tremors rippling along her spine and limbs, her nails smoothed along the contours of his sculpted back, massaging his shoulders while keeping him close _close_ to her; and still never _enough_.

The squelch sounds of his length pumping through her now slick passageway, steadily, rhythmically his muscles girding his hips and bottom flexing deliciously aiding his fluid motion resonated with the strokes of their wet kiss; tongues now falling into a rhythm together rolled and lapped against their lips, exploring each other`s mouth with delicious playfulness.

The humid air into the room sizzled, turning tropical and electric, deliciously tinged with the scent of sweaty bodies, sex and pheromones, creating that unmistakable erotic atmosphere; thick and lush, irresistibly hypnotic.

What a contradiction for a sacrosanct Temple, a Shrine where once a Priestess resided now echoed with the pleasurable moans travelling past Sakura`s lips, the sole silent witness shrouding them securely from the storm and curios orbs.

Sakura`s Shrine became the vault of the Chakra Fruit and their accomplice for their intimacy, protecting and offering shelter.

The bamboo wood walls never spoke, but they memorized and now every ripple, every thrust, every caress of fingertips gliding and folding, squeezing and massaging cotton skin, every nail grazing shoulders and hips, every flex of hips and spine remained imprinted into every droplet of rain, every spiral of smoke from the scented incense.

Time never forgets the memory of such transgression, but when _feelings_ subdued the sin of the act, where brutality dissipated into remorse and meaningfulness, it _forgave_.

Completely exposed and vulnerable to Sasuke, locked into his arms, lodged into his eyes hypnotically and now murmuring by the tremors stirred by his kiss, his lips so rich to her suckling, so juicy, firm and ripen like dark chocolate into her mouth, Sakura _enjoyed_ herself more than she should have had.

Eyelids fiddled in bliss this time and not in pain. Emerald orbs lit and chatoyant coated by lust and pleasure were now shut and relaxed, but rolling on their sockets everytime he pelted deep inside her, reaching that rough spot inside her creamy walls unwinding immense pleasure, jarring into her body.

His stamina was something that Sakura never considered, but this man was vigorous, youthful and full-blooded, passionate and very virile, very masculine thus making love to him was taxing, energy burning and the large gulps of oxygen rushing through her burning lungs when she peeled her lips from his kiss were vestige of that; she wilted under his body as he kept rocking against her hips. "Oh my Kami _Sasuke_..."

His elegant name sagged form her lips, erotic and fulfilled, a sly smile that did not fit to the concept of a maiden when she turned her head over her shoulder, resounded like the biggest contraction.

A _God_ Sasuke definitely wasn`t, at least not in the sense of providence. His ego swelled in masculine arrogance and pride though because Sakura was praising him for that delivering _pleasure_ , for the attention and heed he had to _her_ body. "p-please..."

Languidly, her moans broke, glistening droplets of perspiration prickled between the valley of her breast along her ribs and sternum, seeping along her temples and latching to her pastel painted cheeks and sewing along the length of her neck and hair, crystals sewed on silk and chiffon depicted her strawberry-blonde hair.

"Oh...?" Wordlessly, in one smooth fleeting motion Sasuke captured her attention hauling her from that simmering Paradise when his hands slid under her shoulders pulling her up.

Bouncing and inhaling sharply as adrenaline kicked in because of the sudden volteface of position, blood rushed through her already reeling temples making her dizzy. "Sasuke what—"

"—shhh," He murmured immediately latching his lips on the junction of her neck and left shoulder where her pulse betrayed how much he affected her entire body lit like a charcoal, so alive, so bouncy bubbling of energy.

"wrap your legs around me." He instructed gently but vehemently, leaving no room for protesting his command erotic, dark and presumptuous and she obeyed, the strings of the puppet maneuvering her molding into his embrace.

In fact, it was only when her derriere seated comfortably into his parted sculpted thighs like on a plush pillow, his now crisscrossed legs in a meditation stance accommodated her into his lap, and her gazelle legs wrapping around his narrow waist straddling his sculpted hipbones that girded his lower abdomen, creating that range of pyramid layers of muscles that any man envied, has Sakura realize that the new sitting position brought the incredibly _intimate_ embracing each other.

Blinking as she found herself glancing around the still rom has Sakura realize that Sasuke successfully transfixed her into another dimension, another time where she was the main star, his only focus, his only desire and time stood trapped into the Shrine, only their hearts was the token of life ticking away in the cadence of their revving clocks.

Hands securely wrapped around his muscles, Sakura`s pert breasts pressed into Sasuke`s pectorals, embracing him while his left hand glissaded from her lower back as he made sure that she was fully huddled into his arms, between their hips and swiftly cupped the base of his still fully erect member guiding his ridge between Sakura`s spread thighs.

"Hmmm..." Nipping on her lower lip painfully as her petals were slightly bruised by his kisses, Sakura mewled and shivered into his arms when she felt his tip, sharp as an arrow, warm and so slick and wet coated in their fluids brushing past her soft lattice folds, stretching her elastic aperture as it glide back inside her. "ahhh... Sasu...ke..."

He didn't even have to thrust inside her because that new position and through wet Sakura was for him, her smooth walls now rinsed, coated in glazed milky juices, warmed, humid and incredibly relaxed allowed him a fluid natural deep penetration.

His member glissaded along her passageway immediately, she stretched for him deeply deliciously, her walls pulsating as they rubbed against his engorged skin deliciously tight but not obstructing and refusing him, pumping, clenching as he went further until he could no more.

"Sasuke... Sasuke I need..." Letting her chin fall onto his shoulder, turning her head to whisper to him lackadaisically, barely her nightingale tune resounding louder than a caress of the wind against his burning skin, her lips brushed over his earlobe, tickling him pleasurably. "w-what... is this... why are you... again..."

Her hands treaded thought the pile of his disarray ebony locks, fisting his mane while she pressed herself fully into his carved body, trembling helplessly when he filled her again, completing the void inside her body, the cleft into her heart, that lacerating feeling of solitude he was now soothing her, completing the missing _Yin_ part of her soul with his own.

She felt slightly sore because this Uchiha was insatiable and took her for the second time in such a short amount of time, she still stung between her legs, but nonetheless the sensation of plenitude of being a whole, completed and not alone anymore and the blissful electricity jarring along her spine, the knot tight and hot bobbling along her passageway, simmering into her belly overwhelmed and nullified any pain.

Hands momentarily flooding the swell of her breasts running his palms from her biceps downwards to tickle her ribs and massage her small back, Sasuke palmed the roundness of her cheeks and guided her body up so that she would set for riding him instead of him setting the pace; hoping that this way, Sakura would feel more comfortable with this.

Anticipating her timid question, the quest of _why_ did he try to rape her without caring about her feelings, why _her_ always her and indirectly why did he stop being brutal and making love to her instead of stopping pulling back and walking away, and why did he _apologize_ , still apologizing by letting _her_ be in control, draw the quintessence, the nectar of pleasure with his own power, instead of simply being the one penetrated by _him_ and implicitly dominating by him?

"Because," He could elude her question psychologically toying with her but, capturing her lips in a passionate quick kiss he responded her honestly.

"I _desire_ you." _You and no one else_ and that was exactly the reason why Sasuke couldn't help himself around Sakura. He _wanted_ this woman in ways that he never visualize that he would ever be thirsty for carnal desires, but she was more.

She felt the same pain, she was also a broken heart that he could relate do, she knew his solitude and it felt amazing for him a lonely man to make love to her, a helplessly lonely girl; suddenly, that darkness, the solitude perished miraculously and light immerged from behind thunderclouds.

Of all the smooth white lies he could shower her with, of all those laconic grunts that he could have used to dismiss her, to elude her quest, Sasuke actually formulated a cohesive _answer_ , probing not only that he was indeed lucid and not under the possession of something stronger than human perception, a wraith, a demonic chakra, but also that he _cared_ enough not to tarnish her dignity and ridicule her.

Nails falling from his damp silky hair twiddling along his sensuous spine, holding him in a loose grip, shoulders sagging and her nose buried into the crook of his neck, Sakura froze at his response, stopping undulating like a mermaid gliding through the water, with him firmly lodged inside her, both unmoving surprised by his blunt answer.

The first question that aroused into her mind was it still considered _rape_ of he gave her room to refuse or correspond?

From then moment when she embraced him dearly instead of prying him off, from the moment when her lips sought for his own, accepting his kiss, was it still _forcing_ her or did she tried to lessen her pain by not fighting for her dignity, for her morality?

 _What am I feeling?_ Was the concept of love so everlasting, so infinite in its plenitude that went _beyond_ those mistakes, those transgressions?

Sasuke`s soul was broken, his heart creased and pierced by deep scars, some new, some older than his pain itself, thus she related to him.

Always deprived by human contact, Sakura knew nothing of human bonds, but she understood how fragile they were, how easily was for one to fail at everything, make unforgiving mistakes, but the real test of time was how _strong_ they could become if there was acceptance, forgiveness and love?

"Y-You... _want_ me..." Sakura`s lips murmured like trying to moor onto the concept, to wrap her mind about the paradigm of _desiring_ something so badly that it went beyond respect, beyond her own consent. "...but you... h-hurt me..." She added in an implacable plausibility of her words.

He was still hurting her mentally by crushing her general view and perception over the world, of her purpose in life of the concept of a Priestess unraveling the manipulation and conspiracy behind the curtain, and then he hurt her physically breaking her chastity, transgressing her innocence, her purity; to a woman who wasn't even sure if she _wanted_ him in the way _he_ desired her.

Because Sakura never contact to any man, she wasn't allowed to get so close, so intimate to someone, chastity meant solitude a solitary life of mindfulness and purification of spirit, of mind, of body.

Sasuke claimed to _make love to her_ but what exactly did that mean? He slept with a young woman who didn't know of such concepts; she didn't know _what_ it meant to give herself to a man.

She only had her feelings and her heart; those were ancestral inheritance passed from the first man and woman, instincts that transcended education and the cluster of her forced maidenhood.

And now Sakura`s heart, from the moment when Sasuke first pressed his lips against her, from the moment he claimed her body, touched her virgin body like he had a _claim_ on her, making her forgo a part of herself and give it to him -to another- allowing him to be _inside he_ r, intimately, as intimate as a man and a woman could get, flittered, soared.

She didn't like it when he was harsh, when his calloused words conceal his secret docility, his care, his good nature. And she definitely did not like it when he was brutal with her, when he forced her against her will but at the same time, her chest clenched painfully when he said things like that; _I want you_.

That seemingly arrogance, the need of an Uchiha to dominate, to possess, to have a claim on, was shadowed by _passion_ , by that incredibly finesse and grace that Sasuke had, something that no one would give him credit for. Sakura felt sympathy to him, she felt his hurt and it hurt her _too_.

Wanting nothing more than to embrace him, to make something for him as infinitesimal as it was, something to matter, to lessen that pain and bring a flicker of light into his darkness.

 _I want you_ referred to a crochet, to a furtive caprice and she did not want not be _just_ escape, something to alleviate stress.

At the same time, Sakura had no idea of _what_ can they become, the bonds between a man and a woman were multiple, unexplored, unknown, mystique and ancestral, mysterious and capricious. What did sleeping with him make her now?

Glancing between their bodies, their chests rising and falling laboriously, she blushed virgin pink powdering her doll cheeks when their conjoined bodies revealed such a graphic image.

His well-endowed girth, the only part of him that was visible to her protruding from his lower abdomen, those sculpted defined fibers pressed onto her own, scared her.

Shuddering as her emerald orbs, half lidded and dancing with sparkles of lust and beads of simmering teardrops, now remained pinned to his body.

Something so thick, so lush and strong penetrating her rain-thin body, the softness of her fragile form seemed almost cruel, and her shivers prickled align her limbs, her inhales getting sharper; and it did not go unnoticed by Sasuke. Sakura was amazed that he remained calm and silent during her ruminating.

She had no idea how much time did they stand in that position, only embracing each other, all submerging into their own concerns, joined together with him vehemently filling her body refusing to let any distance brush past them, fighting with all his mind against the burning ache that urged Sasuke to pound inside her, to alleviate the knot into his abdomen, to spill the juices harvested into his heavy sac.

Sasuke did not move, understanding, _feeling_ it through her body language, through her expressive gestured, to her subtle almost unnoticeable sniffing and sobs, through their Jutsu, that she needed time to _understand_ this.

He overwhelmed, he took her fast and she didn't have time to reach by not for the third time, it downed to her that _something_ indeed was happening between them.

And this was not a normal occurrence between people. Sasuke forced her into sleeping with him, beckoned and hypnotized her to give herself, tempted her with his irresistible charm and finesse, an incredibly dexterous grace that Sasuke _knew_ he possessed, without explaining what it meant; to a Priestess who was as pure as snow, whose figments only related to God, to heavens, to kindness and light.

 _Why do you hurt me_ , she asked brokenly, quietly a soft whisper brushing over his eardrums. Sasuke`s palms cupping the sides of her shoulder blades keeping her glued to him, his tongue glided over his lower lip, obsidian orbs glancing earthward to the bundle in his arms.

Keen orbs piercing darkness caught the sight of something _interesting_ that he did not notice before. An index finger flippantly brushed over an intricate small tattoo sprawled upon her lower back, immediately his forehead crippled by a light frown.

 _Why do you hurt her_ , his mind vaguely echoed with the reiteration of his words. "I... don`t." _I don't hurt you_ , his answer vague and evasive as his digit tickled the mysterious pattern wondering about its origins.

Not knowing about what he was focusing on, Sakura giggled as she jolted when his digits tingled her soft sweaty skin, then relaxed into his touch.

What did he say? That did _not_ hurt her? But then why did he want to force her, to rape her against her will if he did not want to hurt her?

She did not understand it at all but Sasuke`s own feelings were intricate and complicated even to himself. "Y-You do not... then why does _i-it_ hurt...?" Her inquire was so simple yet meaningful compelling, legitimate. How could something that wasn't supposed to hurt still be painful?

Her swollen nether lips hurt, her small core now fully stretched because of his member impaling her, piercing her tightness felt sore, a burning sensation jarring whenever he shifted inside her, the elastic soft and sensitive skin still stung.

The woman in her started to adjust, to accommodate to get used to the feeling of having a _man_ penetrating her body, filling her so intensely, the carnal desires betraying the primal animalistic needs.

What about her _mind_ then? Was she supposed to just let him take her whenever he felt the need too?

Women were definitely _no_ tools for a man`s desires, they were human beings, embodiment of the sublime beauty, the kernel of the universe, the quintessence of creation and birth, harvest and eternal femineity, the feminism part of anything in the universe, the sublime harmony between the yin and Yang duality, she was _more_ than an object for him to be inside.

 _Words_... epistles overflowing with meaning now pervaded her mind, making the difference, formulating and sketching filling the outline of an answer.

Sasuke _talked_ to her, responded to her question. He said he _wanted her, highlighting the fact to her_ meaning that he desired no one else, but _her_.

Does that make her special to him, even if he firstly seemed angry and resentful hating her for her mere existence?

"I made you angry... you w-wanted to... punish me like… _t-this_... why?" She needed to know, to _talk_ to this man and now his guard looked frail and feeble, she got the opportunity.

But expressing his feelings even in a moment of vulnerably of intimacy didn't come natural to Uchiha.

Shifting as his onyx orbs sagged, exhaling sharply his palm brushed over her tattoo now nervous when his deactivated Sharingan _comprehended_ and deciphered the pattern of that damned tattoo, the spell on her, he murmured. "I don`t know Sakura."

 _He didn't know_? Admittedly, he confessed that he was aware that his actions were being driven by impulse, something in his triggered and he had no control over. "I don't know but... I do _not_ feel sorry for it... pain is part of everyday life."

He was right, Sakura knew that but the sentiment of being _used_ helplessly without he chance to reciprocate was awful.

Tears now huddling into her orbs seeped along her cheek and moistened Sasuke`s skin, not removing her head from the cushion of his shoulder, she locked her arms slightly around his neck, blubbing between tears as an immeasurable unknown feeling traveled from her passageway, beyond pleasure and lust; the fulfillment, the feeling of being complete, soothed, of being home finally, spanning into her chest.

"Pain of not knowing... of not having a _choice_ , " He added cryptically as his fingertips pressed deeply into the skin of her plush cheeks, his hips thrusting upwards once as she gasped at the sensation; pure bliss rippled in electric waves jolting along her spine and she shivered moaning softly, without making any sounds in the air. "of being _used_ , manipulated, _lied_..."

Emerald orbs flied open and glimmered as crystals of tears swished from her orbs while he read her mind, read her fears, understood what simmered inside her.

"Share it with _me_ then." And he gave her a firm answer and offered her he possibility to reciprocate and _rely_ on him, which left her breathless.

 _Share her pain with him_ , the same man who was the source of it. That notion felt alien, intangible and incomprehensible to Sakura but when his hands, firm, lean and powerful encircled her and slowly, even slower than before started to led her hips up and down against him, gingerly like learning the first steps of a waltz together unwanted her tears; sliding from under her eyelids, she settled with that answer.

And she moved against him. Timid and clumsy at first, sloppily and tentatively until she felt into the rhythm, Sakura started to move against him as Sasuke let her set the pace, being completely still, even if beads of perspiration creased the pleas of his chest and neck enduring that physical strain of not _fucking_ her ruthlessly; he didn't move an inch.

Sakura admittedly murmured that he hurt her, so he let her discover the pathway to pleasure by herself, set the pace that she was comfortable with, discover the pleasure of being with _him_ like this and hopefully _forgive_ him for earlier; he felt remorseful even if he didn't want to.

Palms fitting her round cheeks, he guided her hips subtly showing her the steady way to ride him slowly, her moves now settled for a smoother and more fluid cadence, shimmying and whimpering everytime she arched against him. "Ah... S-Sasuke-"

"—don`t stop." Moans trembling along her parted lips, Sasuke placed a quick chaste kiss over her open mouth as she immediately puckered her petals to accept his peck, murmuring as he gently but firmly guided her hips up when she stopped midway, panting laboriously. "keep going."

Sakura had no idea how to depict it that her body trembled so hard and that pain hurt so so _good_ ; how to explain such an antagonism through sheer words was transcending human comprehension. Bobbling her hips up and down along his erect member, losing the feeling of fulfillment everytime she went up hurt like being torn in half.

But when she let her body sag and sink back into his lap, swallowing him entirely aided by the amplitude of the motion and that position, he hit her spot at such a full sharp angle that her entire body wilted and turned into jelly, trembling violently as each move against him was energy taxing; was this how Sasuke endured when he thrust inside her?

That pleasure, the bliss of his flesh filling her own, rubbing against her own, the plenitude of the friction, stretching her vehemently without faltering, without mercy, hips melting into his own while his girth stretched her wide, the way he lodged inside her to the hilt whenever she lowered against him stole every breath away; gasping each time he hit _that_ key spot inside of her where pleasure accumulated, frothing. "Ohhh!"

That was more intense, she was an active party now and not a simple passive puppet expecting to be filled by him. Now _she_ had the strings into her hands, riding her own pleasure, rocking Sasuke's hips to her own release, to fulfill _her_ desires for him; wishes that secretly frothed into her chest.

Into every morsel of her body, every cell, imprinted into her genetic code the need for him was. He only guided her without clustering her mind; his strong but warm and velvet palms squeezing her buttocks deliciously, aiding the motion, supporting but not _forcing_ her.

Sakura could tell the difference now, Sasuke helped her into understanding better what making love to someone entitled, understanding that she didn't know what it meant; this act involved the participation _mutual_ and consensual with each party and was never a _selfish_ act.

Rape was selfish, but never making love. Delivering pleasure to another in lieu of his own betrayed feelings and care and that moved her heart; she understood _this_ act.

She saw perfection _hesitating_ and it caused a rift into her own heart. This is how Sasuke expressed his _need_ to quench the loneliness by not abiding to the rules set by words.

Phrases that remained a meaningless suspension into time unfurled to her through his gestures. Still young, unpolished and vulnerable to the cyclone of new sensations that she was yet to experience as a young woman, Sakura started to grasp the concept.

Falling slowly into the rhythm with how his hands were guiding her, now she moved against his body on her own, actually getting dizzy of that beatitude, of the intoxicating addiction that the friction between them created.

United with him she finally was, poetic and melodious, their bodies grazing, grinding filing each other, _fitting_ in each other`s embrace, a pastel and oil painting on the dark canvas. "Yes... like this."

His words barely going higher than a whisper, yet hot and calescent coated in chocolate lust, praised her with a strangled growl, for how she moved against him, for how she rocked him.

Slick fluids syphoned from her core leaking in milky streaks about his length as rode him steadily, now a little more _selfish_ setting for a rhythm that made her gasp, slowly trying to rotate and wind her hips, changing the angle of his penetration, hips curtsying against him, her nether lips dabbing against the swell of his sac as she took him inside her body, fully.

"Hmm... S-Sasu-ke..." Her once innocent mewls now took a careened to something _darker_ more erotic, more mature, but nonetheless electric, sensual and beautiful, sexual but never vulgar or lascivious. Making love with Sakura... was art.

The art of _learning_ , knowing each other's bodily needs, paying attention to every move, to how deep, how sharp, how strong he should be when thrusting inside her, when letting _her_ take him all inside, playfulness now turning into something  real.

"Keep... moving." His confidence diffused into an urgent laborious half of a moan and half of a demonic growl, but oh- his broken voice coated in lust, desire, blind need was erotic, _sheer_ erotic, sensual, seductive, hot and irresistible. Uchiha Sasuke was so incredibly _sexy_ , even she, a Priestess, someone who has never been exposed to sin, to temptation could clearly depict it. Hot... he was so so _hot_! "Sakura..."

 _Kami_ how he breathed her name, enunciated it and making it so sexy, so erotic, it gave a meaning to her being _here_ in his arms, trapped between lust and duty, now the former forgotten it was forever in the back of her mind. She obeyed.

Arching deeply against him with palms clustering his shoulders for leverage, nails pressed upon his yielding sculpted muscles, Sakura rocked him, up... and down, slowly at first then revving as that frothing pleasure bubbled inside of her.

"Sasuke... ah _Sasuke_..." Their names exchanged between them gave a meaning to this act, pain turned into something needed, mandatory, desired by both.

Acknowledging the person they were making love to, accepting that it was personal, their _own_ peculiar person and not just _someone_ whose bod they used for own pleasure.

Strong, engorged with blood, creased by bulky throbbing veins running on the underside of his lean length, his manhood glided through her lips, the sound of wet skin pounding and grinding, velvety and lush glistening with juices spraying over their thighs and lower abdomen, simmered across the room; the air turned tropical, exotic, lush and _hot_.

That bundle of nerves accumulated into her belly, the shudders traversing her throbbing inner walls, girding Sasuke`s member wrapping and rippling along his skin pleasurably _tight_ while she massaged him, pumped him with her hips bobbling up and down, screamed to be hit _harder_ , deeper even _more_.

"Ah... ahhhh... Sasuke please... I-I... am... almost..." How to depict it into words that her mind soaked in glitter, bliss and rainbows, fireworks sparkling and bursting under her eyelids?

Nipping on her lower lips, her head tossed backwards as her coral hair, damp and glistening with droplets of perspiration swished behind her shoulders and brushed over Sasuke`s knuckles, draping him like a brides veil.

That angle allowed her full control over his penetration but still she needed a sharper angle for that bundle in her womb to burst, to come loose and sent her to Paradise.

 _Praying_ for him to participate, to help her, to _dominate_ her as she submitted to him _voluntarily_ this time, still remaining in control, she finally understood what they did.

 _Making love... so beautiful, simple and intimate._ Making love...

"I know _angel_ ," Words of endearment felt so foreign ruffling from his lips yet they so timidly bloomed like the first nubs of tulip in spring, wishful, longing but still fragile; epistles transcribed into feelings that Sasuke never displayed to anyone else. "hold me tight."

Palms securing the flute shape of her waistline, brought Sakura back to lie supine onto the mattress, gently while she let out a short cry that the sudden change of positions.

"Hmmm... ah!" Her nails immediately sought for support digging into his shoulders when the new angle of his penetration hurt her briefly, but Sasuke refused to pull back from her as he shifted atop her body, mindful not to crush her, his palms now supporting his weight.

"Relax." Unconsciously Sakura tried to squeeze her thighs back together straddling his waist her inner muscles contracting out of reflex to push him out of her, but his whispered murmur was enough to soothe her; to assure her that she was _safe_ with him.

Nodding once in that amalgamation of flames, fireworks and tinnitus ringing into her ears, all the senses twined into synesthesia, pain, pleasure, fear and desire now sewed on the same embroidery until they become part of the same work of _art,_ she did as he said.

Relaxing her muscles slowly, she wrapped her gazelle legs, smooth and supple around Sasuke`s waist locking her ankles behind the curve of his lower back, heels pressing not his sculpted ass, tongue gliding along the swell of her plush lower lips.

Lips that craved to be kissed ardently…

Breathing deeply, she shifted briefly winding her hips against Sasuke`s, rocking against him while trying to find an angle that would reduce to put less pressure onto her sore skin, his member gliding in and out of her fluidly, stretching her; every motion of her hips stole a hiss from Sasuke whose breathing was just as laborious as hers.

"Ohhh..." So well-endowed and velvety, strong, firm and erect he felt filling her and meting any distance between them.

Lying atop of her with her body coddled by his strong one, Sasuke pulled back from her until only his tip remained inserted into her core, then wound his hips sharply thrusting onwards. "Ahh! Sasuke..."

Head tossing and turning creating crimples into the mattress, Sakura moaned and whimpered at the sensation, when Sasuke sat up a fast almost inhuman pace, going vigorously inside of her merciless, knowing, understanding that her slow cadence, her melodious way of making love, albeit erotic and beautiful, would not suffice to bring them release.

Teeth gnashing together while his own control and stamina faded with the last flicker of the candles scattered around he bedchambers, simmering rivulets of perspiration gliding along the cords of his vigorous tauten muscles, Uchiha literarily struggled not to find release before she did.

Why did it matter so much if _she_ reached pleasure from this, remained forever an enigma to Sasuke, but somehow, he felt like he was not _man_ enough if he couldn't fulfill such a laborious task; of not making her feel fulfilled and complete as a _woman_.

"Sakura," He found himself trying to reach her with his words, albeit her body was so close to him, _one_ and united with his own, intimately, desperately.

Emerald orbs that now grew more and more familiar and delightful flittered open, unveiling such an unique shade that nearly left Sasuke breathless; any other subtle delicacy hat would beautify this woman`s picture would literarily drive Sasuke insane. "look at me."

Beckoning, demanding but somehow _hesitating_ he whispered to her. A shade of aureate beads sewed like intricate golden needlework on royals` embroideries, luminous as they filtered the light, diffused into the emerald rings around her dilated pupils, capturing the spark of emerald diamonds and pure gold into her eyes. Never in his life has Sasuke depicted someone with eyes of _that_ amazing shade.

Looking at him she was, doe orbs creased by so many lit emotions glazed like fragments of stained glass in a church.

Her eyes encapsulated a plethora of emotions, of feelings into her irises; majestic, sacrosanct, providential they were, giving Sasuke viewer a heart-warming felicity that he never felt before.

Gliding his tongue over lips that burned and stung because of their passionate kisses, he murmured. "If _it_ hurts... move with me." _For me_. "Let me feel _your_ pain." Acceptance, opening up to her, willingly wanting to _share_ it with her, those feelings now came undone.

Painting with words, the tableau of them making love was. And she did as Uchiha said. Pain, whatever discomfort dully throbbing through her spread swollen lips faded into the back of her mind. Her first priority was what happened _now_.

Transfixed by a feral look in his eyes a desperate need for her to understand the meaning behind hid words, that he _considered_ her feelings and not just taking what he could, overpowering and subduing her forcibly, Sakura arched her back and thrust upwards, her hips slamming against his own, meeting him halfway. "S-Sasuke... ahhhh! F-Faster... please I need...! Almost..."

So close... Paradise was so close to her outstretched fingertips, her nose now buried into Sasuke`s cheek, searching for his succulent lips and finding them equally thirsty now massaging her own, tongues immediately woven and flickering, licking and massaging one another, playing upon her lips as Sakura let Sasuke roll into her sweet cavern, that sensation mirroring what his member did ravaging her passageway and thrusting to the hilt; to the same rough spot on her rippling walls that sent electric shivers down her spine.

His kiss simmered and jarred along her spine, his tongue rolled along the row pearls of her teeth, savoring her, massaging the inside of her cheeks and spanning along her own tongue, laving her and glissading along her throat not enough to turn the kiss into an unpleasant experience, but deep enough to make her shiver at how hot and erotic his deep French kiss was. "Mmmnn..."

She enclosed her mouth about his own, suckling on his tongue in her mouth, her lower lip pressing onto the swell of his own, making the fine bruised tissue tingle and tremble at how she dabbed and brushed over his mouth, while his tongue claimed her, eating every breath, every moan, any keening sounds and the nectar seeping from her quintessence; Sasuke felt her very _soul_ , the kernel of her pure heart through the kiss, to how she voluntarily _gave herself_ to him, putting everything she had into that lip lock, intense but still rough, clumsy, and it was amazing!

He knew the Priestess enjoyed his kisses, her hands now wrapped desperately possessively around this shoulders as she moved in sync with him, albeit his hips slammed vigorously into her own thrusting hard, sharp and fast inside, a tempo that made both their hearts thud in frenzy, sending her wobbling backwards at the force of his pendulations, but the knot in their bellies bubbled, amassing energy, hormones, pleasure that now threatened to burst. "Sakura..."

Few more thrusts and that bundle would come undone, freeing immense secret pleasure that have been denied to Sakura until now and Sasuke brought her there, he, an _enemy_ , granted her what Tsunade secretly wished for the kittenish Priestess.

Still young and shocking equally inexperienced in the arts of seduction and how to pleasure a woman, Sasuke knew what he was doing.

Albeit of a young age, he was undeniable a _man_ and he made love to her, not like an adolescent in the years of blooming manhood experimenting with the buds of intimacy and finding his sexuality, but as a _man_. And Sakura herself started to feel more like a full-fledged _woman_ rather than a Priestess.

 _Words_... now stung and hurt like they were a living being, words that now got a meaning. Words that seemed an empty shell snarled by Sasuke earlier now encapsulated emotion; real, genuine meaning filling in the void he left while crushing her world with one simple word. Words were powerful, she realized it now.

Clutching him into her petite arms, wrapped around the sensuous shape of his back, lithe and slender as he fitted into her embrace but still strong, masculine, sharp and creased by deep muscles, Sakura gasped silently now moans turning into gasps for air, electricity welling into the pits of her belly. "S-Sasuke... Sasuke more..."

Such a selfish word unfurled from the lips of a Priestess was already oxymoron.

Asking for something that had no name felt surreal, dumb and clumsy, but she was so close to touch that bliss again and this time, when feelings twiddled into her chest frothing blissfully, but release she craved for ardently, lost in the bliss of having Sasuke filling her intensely, deeply pumping frenetically inside her.

Sasuke`s strong body, virile and masculine, pure aphrodisiac, erotic as it was nude and splendid lights and shadows falling elegantly erotically onto his back, emerald orbs glancing south past his shoulders were her chin cuddled.

His outlines consisted in strong sensual lines, lean long fibers, sculpted, bulking and sweating, raw power exuding from his muscles, he was elegant and sculpted, garmentless but not vulgar, his belt of defined muscles refined by harsh years of continues training now exuded of the same penchant for perfection.

Fiddling warm hands of a princess, soft as silk traversing rippling water smoothed along Uchiha`s flexed shoulder blades, descending down the pathway of his back that led towards his strong hips.

Barely focusing on Sasuke`s back peeping through heavy hyaline layers of thick lust, Sakura could not help herself when her kittenish fingertips, reticent at first like tempted to ask for the permission to touch his body, sought to span over his cheeks.

But the firm muscles descending along the inside of his sculpted thighs, fibers, sinew and cords twined deliciously displaying a fine representation of a strong man, stealing from the irresistible depiction of perfection, strength and royalty of a Roman Emperor, tempted her.

Her fingertips, timid and barely gracing his skin now pressed and squeezed the side of his cheeks with a touch similar to a cotton flower bud, following the swell of the strong muscles, her hand now massaging his bottom with her palm running up and down brushing between his cheeks as far as she could reach, then skimming up to follow the pyramid muscles along his abdomen and back, then sliding upwards to the column his spine, aimlessly repeating the motion.

The sight of him, as mouthwatering and incredibly erotic as it was with him so beautiful, so perfect was doubled by how his lower back flexed knowing that it was _her_ body the place where he thrust forward so vigorously, his sweaty skin shrouded in simmering beads of perspiration. "Ahhh..."

His nose was buried into the crook of her neck, her feverous pulse thudding through her kosher skin, panting hotly with every thrust he made, each waver being more laborious than the other.

They were both so close that Sakura could actually feel and taste the bliss starting to wash over her every cell in anticipation.

She had no idea how loud her moans were and Sasuke himself fell into oblivion and how the sounds of their passion echoed from a _shrine_ , but the swell of pleasure huddled into her body, and she trembled violently into his arms _pleading_ and begging him for release. "Sasuke please—"

 _"—Sasuke! Are you here?!"_ Three seconds ticking into the clock in slow motion passed with Sasuke and Sakura`s intimacy shattering like a pebble tossed against a window shattering it into pieces, the unmistakable sound of broken glass pulverizing the agonizing orgasm that loomed above their conjoined bodies in thick layers; so lush, so reach and torrid that it made the air in the room feel ten times hotter, more humid and basically _reeking_ of sweat, pheromones and passionate sex.

From _miles_ away. The violent rain storm outside couldn't wash away the bubble of love making, of torpid bodies grazing together hovering above Sakura`s bedchamber, on the contrary it augmented it. Virtually, that space seemed to be simmering, burning without flames.

"What the fuc—" The bamboo door has been roughly slid to reveal the silhouettes of three soaked incredibly eavesdropping _idiots_ and a dog capering into the room, their damp raincoats dripping and sprinkling droplets of water all around the carpet, gasping and... freezing in horror at the sight welcoming them.

And _oh_ \- _what_ a sight to behold it was!

Glimmering twice with his amethyst orbs widened comically and his pale visage now creased by a dumbfounded expression that was not characteristic, crouched into a semi fighting stance like anticipating an imminent threat to welcome him on the other side of the light glissading door, _Suigetsu_ asked the most outrageous obvious and completely forward question in the history of human kind.

"...are you guys fucking?"

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A/N: Sooo… I take it that I shall insert a short note at the beginning of every update of my stories now? Something along the lines of…

 _Warning! The following chapter contain massive descriptions of feelings, landscapes and people and major abuse of 'sophisticated' words?_

 _Proceed with caution, reading it in its full length may be trigger annoyance and extreme boredom. Plush pillows are highly recommended. Read at your own risk!_

I think that would be fair play for everyone who is terribly vexed, annoyed, chaffed, exasperated by my writing style/language/descriptive style… LOL No? No... ok.

I mean… I truly do not get it you guys. _Why_ is it so hard to simply **ignore** me and my stories if they are _that_ bad? Hmm? There are thousands of stories on this community, a myriad of them with regular updates to follow. How come someone as insignificant as _me_ is so hard to simply… overlook?

I am so so so so so… SO sick, so fed up, so bored and equally annoyed by the reiteration of the SAME things in the reviews and not only. My annoying 'TOO MUCH' writing style. Seriously, stop it already, it is already enough! It got less interesting and more into the annoying side already.

Yeah, I get it, I`m a bad/flawed/lacking authors, so what? I truly do _not_ need anyone to rub it into my face over and over again; comprehension skills is something that I do not lack. Does the fact that I am a poor author automatically bespeak that I do not _deserve_ to write here, for the readers who truly enjoy my stories? I hereby apologize for taking a morsel of space from this community to post my bad stories!

Yes Yes… I know, negativity exists but seriously, I am here writing and posting as _hobby_ , I do not get any material advantages from it rather than personal satisfaction and blithe of sharing my stories with the others.

So… I am _begging_ you all STOP it with constantly reminding me how much you despise my lush writing style, it is so ANNOYING! I won`t ever change it, I am warning you! I don't have to do this because I only write as HOBBY in a way that pleases my heart and not because I need to please the OTHERS! This isn't my job!

Seriously, please stop it! No one, absolutely _no one_ is forcing you to put up with my boring writing style, NO ONE! Clicking on my stories, checking on my updates is your OWN very personal choice! Are you guys possibly… _masochists_? Why clicking on something you do not like when you can simply move forward and IGNORE it?!

I personally as a reader have COUNTLESS of stories I hate here and guess what?! You don't see me taking a masochistic pleasure in enduring reading them, then go and complain what I hate about those stories.

I am on an AMATEUR site where I write as hobby! What good would it do for me to review other stories and complain that I don't like a peculiar thing from that author`s writing skills? Nihil, zero! Annoying the other authors is one safe way to force that author to get out of here...

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... this is what crossed my mind before I realized something that an amazing author that I utmost respect confirmed; wow... I might be 'lecturing' people who might be at least ten years younger than me LMFAO and how _lame_ would it be for a grown up adult to moan about it before an audience compelling mostly youngsters? That would truly define me as puerile, juvenile, trivial and trifling LMAO

Wow... now I have just realized it that even my A/N might be too... sophisticated to read LOL

So _kids_ , I am kindly advising you to STOP clicking on my stories, ok? They are simply... not what you are looking for! I do not write _color books_! ninty nine percent of the stories here are simplistic, the chapters short and fairily barren of anything that might become TOO MUCH. Go read them all and leave _my_ stories alone! Sonds simple right? LOL Ok?

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On another note… I have finally graduated yayyy! I had the oral presentation and defense of my Thesis today, I passed it with flying colors and now… I am savoring the leisure time and the summer holiday! Oh yeah… I wish you guys a happy sunny summer holiday! And thus I decided to post this chapter for you guys to read.

For those who do _not_ mind to read something so descriptive, know that I put a lot of effort into capturing feelings, especially Sasuke`s to add to the further development. I promise more unfolding of events in the upcoming chapters.

Now I have more free time to focus on my stories and good news, I am going to update my other stories soon!

Thanks for the feedback and following this story!


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